‘Diarrhoea’ blamed for emergency landing on Delta flight with 281 passengers

A flight with 281 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing after an unfortunate situation.

A transatlantic Delta flight had to be diverted to New York City after a passenger reportedly experienced an apparent bout of diarrhoea in-flight.

The Airbus A330 had been flying from Boston, Massachusetts to Rome, Italy last Friday but turned around over the Atlantic Ocean about an hour into the flight, data from Flightradar24 shows.

The aircraft then reportedly landed at JFK airport in New York, after which the 281 passengers were transferred to another plane, per Business Insider.

A Delta spokesperson attributed the diversion to a “customer medical issue en route,” but neglected to specify the nature of the problem.

A Delta flight was diverted to a New York airport for an emergency landing. Picture: Charly Triballeau / AFP

However, the X account @OnlyInBoston said that the incident involved a “passenger who had severe bouts of diarrhoea all over their seat”.

Delta representatives have since addressed the “accident,” saying, “Delta apologises to our customers for the delay in their travels from Boston to Rome on Friday night. We thank them for their patience as the aircraft diverted to New York-JFK before continuing to Rome early Saturday morning.”

The original plane resumed service about 20 hours after the potentially odiferous ordeal.

The service resumed about 20 hours after the emergency landing. Picture: Robyn Beck / AFP

This wouldn’t be the first time a Delta flight had to be diverted due to diarrhoea.

In the most infamous “brownout” in September, a Delta flight from Atlanta to Barcelona was forced to make a U-turn and an emergency landing after a flyer soiled themself midflight.

“This is a biohazard issue,” the pilot declared to air traffic control.

“We’ve had a passenger who’s had diarrhoea all the way through the aeroplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta.”

Footage taken during the aftermath shows a brown trail running down the length of the aeroplane aisle with paper towels on most heavily soiled areas in an attempt to obscure the view.

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission