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British Airways flight forced to land in Vancouver after crew members fall ill

Click to play video: 'Mysterious British Airways illness causes emergency landing at YVR'
Mysterious British Airways illness causes emergency landing at YVR
WATCH: Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is looking into a mysterious illness among a British Airways crew. As Grace Ke reports, it forced the jet to divert to Vancouver Monday night for an emergency landing – Oct 25, 2016

It was a frightening night for passengers on a British Airways flight, which was forced to make an unexpected stop in Vancouver after members of the cabin crew fell ill mid-flight.

At 11:30 p.m. the pilot of the British Airways flight 286, travelling from San Francisco to London, UK requested to make a priority landing in Vancouver.

The aircraft landed safely and was quickly met by emergency crews.

Vancouver Coastal Health says 25 crew members were taken to local-area hospitals to be assessed and some were treated for possible smoke inhalation.

No passengers were taken to hospital.

Passenger Dan Hemmings said he was watching a film when the plane turned around and he thought they were heading back to Calgary.

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“It was pretty scary,” he said, adding they were told there were some technical problems with the plane. “The cabin crew on the top deck weren’t feeling very good because it was something to do with some carbon monoxide or something, that’s what [the firefighters] were talking about,” he said.

British Airways has not confirmed this is why the crew members were taken to hospital.

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Another passenger, Claire Moss, was seated on the top deck of the plane. She told Global News when the plane was diverting, the pilot came over the loudspeaker and said there was a technical fault with the plane, which was making people feel ill.

“I think, in a way, [that] made people more panicked,” she said. “And then when we landed and a fireman came on wearing breathing apparatus, you think ‘what have I been breathing in for the past three hours if there is something wrong?'”

All of the crew members have now been treated and discharged from hospital.

WATCH: A British airways flight made an emergency landing in Vancouver because of a smell on board. As Robin Gill reports, no passengers were hurt but some of the crew members felt sick. 

Click to play video: 'British Airways flight makes emergency landing in Vancouver after crew members fall ill'
British Airways flight makes emergency landing in Vancouver after crew members fall ill

 

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British Airways says it is in the process of arranging alternate flights for the 400 passengers on board, although passengers are getting frustrated and say not enough information is being shared.

“I had to pay for the hotel, I had to use my own card for that,” said Hemmings. “But they said I’ve got to sort all that out myself to reimburse it. It’s not what you need after all that.”

Passengers said they were told another flight would be leaving Vancouver at 10 a.m. Tuesday but when they arrived at the airport, they were told that is not the case.

“So we could have stayed at the hotel more, got some more sleep, got some breakfast so now we’re just waiting around in a queue to find out what’s going to happen,” said passenger Alex Higgins.

“It’s not cool. I just want to sleep.”

More to come.

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