Passengers Pass Out and Vomit After Being Trapped on Hot Plane

A nightmare flight turned into a sweltering ordeal after passengers said they were trapped aboard a Ryanair plane for nearly two hours without working air conditioning — with some reportedly vomiting, passing out and stripping off their shirts in a desperate attempt to cool down.

The chaos unfolded Monday aboard Ryanair Flight 7268 from Malta to Birmingham, England, as temperatures outside climbed to around 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

Among those caught in the miserable conditions was 16-year-old Eva Gregory, who was traveling with her mother, Angela, and brother, Samuel.

Their troubles reportedly started before they even stepped onto the aircraft.

Passengers said they were packed onto an airport shuttle bus without air conditioning and left waiting for roughly 30 minutes before eventually being transferred to another vehicle.

But boarding the plane offered little relief.

“We got on the plane but were sitting and waiting in the heat with no air conditioning at all for over an hour,” Eva said.

As the cabin grew hotter, tempers reportedly began to flare.

“All the passengers were extremely agitated and quite quickly became frustrated,” she said. “People were taking their tops off because of the heat.”

The situation soon became more serious.

Eva claimed two passengers lost consciousness while others became sick.

“Two people passed out, although I’m not sure how many were throwing up,” she said.

Eva also began feeling nauseous herself, which she said triggered a panic attack because she has a phobia of vomiting.

“I was experiencing the feeling of needing to throw up, but as I have a phobia of being sick, it gave me a panic attack,” she said.

She said elderly passengers appeared especially distressed as the ordeal dragged on.

“The elderly people seemed extremely distressed and could potentially have experienced worse medical problems,” Eva said.

According to the teenager, cabin crew attempted to stop additional passengers from boarding while the aircraft’s air conditioning was not working, but those concerns were allegedly ignored by ground staff.

She also claimed passengers were not offered complimentary water even as people began feeling ill.

Ryanair disputed parts of the passengers’ account.

The airline said the flight was initially delayed because of a “minor technical issue” with the aircraft and was later held up again when a passenger became sick onboard.

Ryanair also said passengers spent about 10 minutes on an air-conditioned bus and that the cabin crew opened the aircraft’s onboard service so travelers could purchase drinks while the plane remained on the ground.

“This flight from Malta to Birmingham (10 Aug) was delayed prior to departure due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft and subsequently became delayed after a passenger became ill onboard,” a Ryanair spokesperson said.

The airline said engineers inspected the aircraft and cleared it to fly.

The plane eventually departed Malta at around 7 p.m. local time — more than an hour after its scheduled 5:40 p.m. departure.

For passengers already exhausted by the scorching cabin, however, the delay had turned what should have been a routine flight home into an airborne nightmare they are unlikely to forget.