Multiple passengers and at least one crew member on board a Delta Air Lines flight experienced heat-related illness after the plane was stuck on the tarmac for hours in temperatures above 43 C (111 F), according to eyewitness statements.
Delta Flight 555 was supposed to fly out of Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport on Monday, but was cancelled due to the high volume of people falling ill.
Numerous customers had to be treated by first responders, while one passenger and one flight attendant had to be transported to a local hospital, Delta Air Lines told NBC News.
“We apologize for the experience our customers had on flight 555,” the airline stated. “Delta teams are looking into the circumstances that led to uncomfortable temperatures inside the cabin and we appreciate the efforts of our people and first responders at Harry Reid International.”
The airline said customers were compensated and received direct apologies for the ordeal. Delta accommodated the passengers on other flights after Flight 555 to Atlanta was cancelled.
A field producer for Fox News, Krista Garvin, was on the flight and tweeted that it was an “INSANE experience” while she was stuck on the tarmac.
She tweeted at Delta Air Lines: “First we were delayed because you did not have a flight attendant. Then we finally board and sit for almost 3 hours on a hot plane in 111 degree weather. Now we are heading back to the gate cause people are passing out.”
Half an hour later, Garvin tweeted that paramedics had boarded the flight to treat people who were falling ill.
“I’ve seen a total of three people wheeled out so far. Oxygen tanks are being pulled out. They said to press your call button if you need medical assistance. Babies are screaming crying,” she wrote alongside a video showing an ambulance pulling up beside the plane.
Garvin later told Fox Business that multiple passengers had passed out in the extreme heat and some had soiled themselves by that point. In total, she said she saw at least five people being stretchered off the plane.
Passengers were given the choice to leave the plane, Garvin told Fox Business, but they were told that if they did, it may take a number of days for them to get another flight to Atlanta. Many passengers decided to stay, even as temperatures rose.
Another passenger on the flight, April Love, told ABC News she saw oxygen being administered to at least four people and saw three gurneys wheeled in.
Garvin said that after a flight attendant fell ill, passengers were told the flight might not be able to take off. She saw a flight attendant being wheeled off the plane on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on.
After a total of four hours, Garvin said all the passengers were asked to disembark the plane.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures that day at Harry Reid International Airport reached a high of 46 C (115 F).
Currently, an excessive heat warning is in effect for Nevada as dangerously high temperatures have plagued most of the U.S. in the past month. Heat that has blanketed large parts of the southern and western portions of the country is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Las Vegas tied its all-time high temperature on Sunday when it reached 116 F (46.7 C).
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