Mystery fumes strike down BA f light crew

BRITISH Airways crew were left ‘vomiting, dizzy and confused’ after suspected toxic fumes leaked into the cabin during a long-haul flight. The London-bound Airbus A380 superjumbo was thousands of feet up when the crew suddenly fell ill.

A leaked internal report has now detailed how flight attendants became ‘spaced out’ – wandering around ‘lost’ on the plane and ‘stuffing’ food into their mouths while wearing oxygen masks.

Cabin crew union Unite last night said the details were ‘deeply concerning’ and criticised BA for ‘downplaying’ the incident.

Yesterday the airline said no fault had been found with the plane, but it did not reveal what had caused the scare on the flight from San Francisco on October 25.

The report, written by the flight’s cabin service director, described how about 40 minutes after take-off the crew noticed a potent noxious smell like burning plastic.

The captain on the 850-capacity aircraft declared an emergency and told air traffic control the problem was ‘toxic gas-type fumes’. The flight was diverted to Vancouver, Canada, where all the double-decker plane’s flight attendants and three pilots were taken to hospital.

The report, seen by the Sunday Times, said the smell was detected by a door in the main cabin and on the upper deck of the plane. It stated: ‘[There were] reports of dizziness, light heads, headaches, nausea, itchy red eyes, metallic taste in mouth, floating-type feelings, flushed, aggression and, most worryingly, forgetfulness and confusion, inability to think straight and converse in normal manner.’

Crew were seen ‘in corners on [the] floor with blankets over their heads’ and also ‘stuffing food in their mouths while on oxygen’. It also said crew members had continued to feel ill after leaving hospital – with one collapsing and vomiting after returning to the UK. But BA, which has described the incident as an ‘odour event’, yesterday did not have an explanation for what happened.

A spokesman said: ‘Our highlyskilled engineers inspected the aircraft in Vancouver and carried out further tests on its flight back to London. No fault was found.

‘We have shared our detailed and thorough investigation with the CAA and fully comply with all safety regulations.’

Unite, the union that represents cabin crew members, yesterday called for further investigation into the scare and the wider threat of ‘contaminated air’ on flights.

A spokesman said: ‘This deeply concerning account raises further serious questions over why the airline sought to downplay the incident as a mere “odour event”.’