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Gross new details about the international Delta Airlines flight that was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger's diarrhea led to "a biohazard issue" have been revealed.
Passengers on the Airbus A350 flight from Atlanta to Barcelona shared their experiences with the Daily Mail in a story published on Wednesday (September 6).
“It was an experience that I hope no one has to go through,” said passenger Marie Beals-Basinger.
“I hope the poor woman that had this experience recovers,” she added.
The flight was airborne for two hours when its pilot requested to turn back around after a passenger "had diarrhea all the way through the plane."
“This is a biohazard issue,” the pilot said in a LiveATC.com recording shared on X. “We’ve had a passenger who’s had diarrhea all the way through the airplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta.”
X user @Woodyssea claimed their partner was on the flight.
"My partner was on that flight! It was pretty bad. It was dribbled down the aisle, smelled horrible. The vanilla scented disinfectant used on it only made it smell like vanilla s***. After the plane landed, it was thoroughly cleaned," the X user wrote.
The passenger who experienced diarrhea wasn't publicly identified in relation to the incident, which resulted in passengers and crew members being transferred before finally landing in Barcelona at 5:10 p.m., eight hours later than initially scheduled, the following day, according to Flightradar24. It was not determined whether the passenger who experienced diarrhea was aboard the plane when it finally landed in Spain.
An image of an alleged Federal Aviation Authority flight strip shared on Reddit appeared to confirm that the plane's emergency landing was caused by a "biohazard" issue.
"DIVERT TO ATL - PASSENGER DIARRHEA ALL OVER A/C - BIOHAZARD," the alleged FAA flight strip states.
Cleaning crews successfully cleaned the plane, which flight records confirmed was later used for another flight, after it returned to Atlanta. Delta officials confirmed that a "medical issue" caused the plane to be redirected and cleaned, however, didn't elaborate on what the actual issue was.
“Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to thoroughly clean the airplane and get our customers to their final destination,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement obtained by the New York Post. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”