This is the terrifying moment a plane filled with smoke, forcing an emergency landing and leaving 12 passengers injured as well as one crew member in intensive care.
Footage shows heavy smoke engulfing the cabin on the Swiss airlines flight from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday evening.
The smoke in the cabin and cockpit reportedly developed due to engine problems, with passengers claiming that one engine exploded and caused a fire.
The plane had to make an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, and all passengers and crew had to be evacuated from the aircraft.
Local police said that 12 passengers and five crew members were injured in the incident, with one crew member being treated in intensive care after he suffered serious injuries.
A witness told Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten that the flight attendant was unconscious at the time of the evacuation and had to be resuscitated by other crew members.
Another passenger said that an explosion caused the smoke in the cabin. ‘There was a strange noise, a lot of smoke and people couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know what had happened,’ the woman told Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung.
She said she was sleeping when the ‘strange noise’ woke her up and she smelled smoke. ‘I panicked, I didn’t know what was going on. I tried to calm myself down,’ she added.
Footage shows heavy smoke engulfing the cabin on the Swiss airlines flight from Bucharest, Romania , to Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday evening
The plane had to make an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, and all passengers and crew had to be evacuated from the aircraft (pictured above)
Local police said that 12 passengers and five crew members were injured in the incident, with one crew member being treated in intensive care after he suffered serious injuries (pictured: an ambulance on the tarmac after the aircraft made its emergency landing)
Other people on board claimed that they had seen an explosion and fire in the engine.
Social media users have criticised the airline, since the photo shared by a passenger from inside the smoky cabin does not appear to show any oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling to provide passengers with fresh air.
The other crew members and passengers only suffered light injuries, according to the initial findings published by local police.
But Swiss said it was ‘concerned about the condition of a cabin crew member who was taken to hospital in Graz by helicopter. His condition is currently unclear.’
The airline added in a statement this morning: ‘We continue to monitor the condition of the crew member, who is in the intensive care unit, with concern. The relatives are on site and are also being cared for by Swiss specialists.
‘Swiss is also in close contact with the treating doctors. Our thoughts are with those affected and we firmly hope that our colleague’s health will improve soon.’
The company previously said it had sent a care team for passengers and crew, technicians and a support team for local authorities to Graz overnight to provide ground support.
It confirmed the emergency landing in a statement: ‘SWISS flight LX1885 from Bucharest to Zurich made an emergency landing in Graz due to smoke. All 74 passengers and 5 crew members have been evacuated, with 17 requiring medical attention.
It added that a special flight was due to depart at 9.45am on Tuesday to return the passengers to Zurich before Christmas Day.
In an earlier statement, Swiss said that the crew ‘decided to make an unscheduled landing in Graz’.
The airport in Graz was closed yesterday due to the incident, local media reports.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
