Flight Makes Emergency Landing to Free Man in Cargo Hold
Luciana Mangas October 04, 2016
The plane had been in the air for only 30 minutes when the ground crew noticed one of their members were missing. He was later found in the cargo hold, suffering from hypothermia.
An Angola bound flight had quite a scare this past Saturday. The Telegraph reports the the flight had just departed from Porto, Portugal, when they had to do an emergency landing. Thirty minutes into the flight, it became apparent that one of the ground crew members had gone missing and there was a strong possibility that he had gotten trapped in the cargo hold of the plane.
The TAAG Angola Airlines Boeing 777-300 left the Portuguese city with the southern African country as its destination on Saturday, but was diverted to Lisbon, about 170 miles away.
When the plane landed in Lisbon, the man was found in the cargo hold, experiencing hypothermia. According to information from Flight Radar 24, the aircraft had reached nearly 35,000 feet, where the temperature outside dropped to -55C, before being forced to turn around.
Apparently, the man had been loading a container of passengers’ pets when he suddenly passed out. It was only 40 minutes later that the rest of the staff noticed he was missing, but by that time, the plane had already departed.
An investigation about the incident is under way and the man is currently recovering in a hospital.
[Photo:Fotolia/AP]
I wouldn't reach -55C, but it's also not necessarily comfortably heated. It is possible the pets were stored in a specific container that provides its own heat or in an area of the hold that has more heat. Detailed information here: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/2012_q2/4/
"Apparently, the man had been loading a container of passengers’ pets when he suddenly passed out. It was only 40 minutes later that the rest of the staff noticed he was missing, but by that time, the plane had already departed." So the area where the passengers pets were being stowed was know to reach -55C? Once they get finished investigating how this man was endangered and how to prevent future occurrences the next step is to find out how this airline gets away with subjecting pets to the same situation.