An American airline was diverted on Sunday (Jul 28) following a “biohazard” issue on the airplane. United Airlines flight 2477 took off from Houston for Boston but faced an emergency mid-air. The flight was rerouted after a customer became sick, the airline told DailyMail.com. According to FlightAware, Boeing 737-800 was diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport.
In an initial statement, United’s website described the reason for the diversion as “an urgent customer situation.” However, as per Daily Mail, an audio clip shared on X had the pilot telling air traffic control, “Especially with this kind of being a biohazard, I think we need to get this plane on the ground ASAP.”
“The crew is vomiting and passengers all around are asking for masks, etc. I talked to the crew and it sounds like it’s quite bad back there,” the pilot said.
United Airlines crew and passengers vomiting due to a “biohazard” from a passenger and flight diverted to Dulles as UA2477 (Boeing 737-800 IAH-BOS) this afternoon.
Big thanks to Bill B. for sharing the audio and @RadarBoxCom for tracking. pic.twitter.com/LOojAnsbZH
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) July 28, 2024
The flight had 155 passengers and six crew members on board. Dulles International Airport officials said that none of them required any medical help upon landing.
United further informed on its website that the flight would soon leave Dulles for Boston but it was being delayed.
“The aircraft is currently undergoing a deep clean and we are working to get customers on their way to Boston soon,” the statement said.
Diarrhoea case on Delta flight
In September last year, a Delta flight travelling from Atlanta to Barcelona had a similar incident when a passenger suffered a severe case of diarrhoea that hit “all the way through” the plane. Two hours into the flight, the plane made an unexpected U-turn and returned to Atlanta. An audio transmission from the cockpit posted on X, had the pilot telling air traffic control, ”This is a biohazard issue. We’ve had a passenger who’s had diarrhoea all the way through the airplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta.”
Delta officials confirmed that there was a “medical issue” on the flight, which led to the emergency landing. The flight was later thoroughly cleaned.
A Delta spokesperson apologised to the customers for the disruption and delay, stating, “Our teams worked diligently and safely to thoroughly clean the airplane and ensure our customers reached their final destination. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this delay may have caused to our customers’ travel plans.”