One passenger said: “Landing in a country that most of us had never heard of was scary enough”
A holidaymaker claims they were stranded for hours at an airport in Croatia following an emergency landing. Louise Mapsie was returning to Manchester on an easyJet flight after a five-day Egyptian getaway when the pilot made an urgent call for medical assistance.
A crew member had taken ill and needed immediate medical attention, prompting the diversion of the flight to Zagreb Airport on December 13, where paramedics were ready to transport the staff member to hospital.
Louise said that passengers were initially informed that they would be put up in temporary accommodation due to the crew’s duty limits preventing the flight from continuing. However, once they disembarked with their belongings, she said they were told that no accommodation was available and they would have to remain at the closed Zagreb Airport.
EasyJet has since issued an apology for the inconvenience caused by the event. Louise told the Manchester Evening News: “As soon as we got off the plane that was it. The crew stayed on the plane, we got into the airport to realise that it was closed.”
She added: “There was not a single member of staff in there. There were only two security guards who seemed like they were called to help us because of the emergency landing.
“We were just left in there with nobody, we were getting updates on the easyJet app. Which not everybody had, there were elderly people who didn’t have it so they had no clue what was going on.”
“An hour later we got a text from easyJet saying they aren’t going to give us accommodation and they would let us know when the next available flight is.”
Louise said the cabin crew reportedly remained onboard before being taken to accommodation, while passengers faced hours of confusion at the airport without assistance.
She said: “The crew got in their taxi and left, and we just had to sit there. There was nothing open, nowhere to get a drink, babies had gone for almost 20 hours with no milk. It was just horrific. We were terrified. Landing in a country that most of us had never heard of was scary enough.
“Seeing that the airport was closed and nobody was around to call for help, it was really scary. Every five minutes felt like an hour when you were sitting there shivering. At one point we didn’t know if anybody was coming to get us.”
The flight took off from Hurghada Airport on Thursday evening (December 12) with the emergency landing taking place in the early hours of Friday morning (December 13). Louise said passengers were eventually flown to Manchester Airport at around 2pm.
The lash technician said: “When we eventually got on the flight to Manchester, there was no aftercare.. We got on the plane and they were trying to sell us drinks and snacks, saying we’re going to have to buy it if we want to have a drink.
“After being stranded for so long it was a nightmare. I took everyone’s number and have set up a WhatsApp group so we can talk about what we’re going to do because it’s not on.”
An easyJet spokesperson explained: “Flight EZY2252 from Hurghada to Manchester on December 12 was required to divert to Zagreb and was delayed overnight due to a crew member requiring urgent medical assistance. The crew member was met by paramedics and transferred to hospital where they were treated.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority. Our crew were provided with hotel accommodation to comply with regulations and we secured hotel rooms for customers where available. Unfortunately, due to limited hotel availability, some customers remained in the airport overnight and so we endeavoured to make them as comfortable as possible by providing refreshments.
“We take our responsibility to our customers seriously and while the circumstances were outside of our control, we are very sorry for the difficulty this will have caused.”
