TO HAIL & BACK
Terror for fliers as lumps of ice the size of golf balls force pilot to make emergency landing
PASSENGERS screamed in terror after hailstones the size of golf balls bombarded their flight from Glasgow – forcing an emergency landing.
The freak hail storm happened as the EasyJet flight to Split attempted to land at the Croatian city’s airport on Sunday morning.
The pilot was forced to abandon the landing, taking the plane steeply up, leaving passengers screaming and some being physically sick.
The flight rerouted to Ljubljana, Slovenia, where it waited for the storm to pass before heading to Croatia.
When the plane finally landed in Split, hailstones the size of golfballs could be seen on the runway.
Restaurateur Milan Nikolic, from Helensburgh, was on board, travelling to the wedding of Marko Curic, who manages his Padrone pizza restaurant.
Milan said: “The flight had gone smoothly and we were getting ready to land when it became clear the weather was getting pretty bad.
“The plane was being thrown around and we got a message over the tannoy saying that owing to technical difficulties, we would be redirecting to Ljubljana.
“That probably made people feel even more nervous, as I thought there might be something wrong with the plane.”
Milan said the plane suddenly gained altitude, bringing more panic. He said: “We started heading up quite sharply and people were screaming.
“The girl in front of me was sick and the woman behind me was screaming in panic. It was stressful.
“It was pretty scary to be honest. We got through the turbulence and safely landed in Split and the captain emerged from the cockpit area and spoke to everyone, explaining that the freak weather had made it too dangerous to land.”
Milan was sent a photo of the hailstones in Split by a friend. He said: “This was genuinely freak weather.”
A spokesman for EasyJet said: “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY6812 from Glasgow to Split diverted to Ljubljana due to adverse weather over Split.
“The safety of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority.”