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Day trip nightmare

Wednesday, 03 September 2008

A GROUP of Ballymun teenagers and adults on a flight home from England were rushed to hospital when their plane touched down after a dream day trip to England turned into a nightmare ordeal.
The group of 27 youths, aged between 11 and 19, and 10 adults had visited Liverpool as part of a day trip organised by the Whiteacre Residents Association.
However, a large number of the group were struck down with a mystery illness just as they were about to board their flight home on the night of August 20.
Members of the group had begun to complain of feeling ill and several started to vomit and display worrying symptoms just before the flight was due to depart.
According to Mary Fitzpatrick, who was an adult supervisor on the trip, the duration of the late flight to Dublin was an “utter nightmare” for all involved.
“A health and safety team at Liverpool airport boarded the plane to make an assessment of the situation, they were between two minds whether to let the flight take off at all,” Ms Fitzpatrick told Northside People.

Despite the illness, the group were given the all-clear to continue their journey home. However, once the flight was airborne some of the group began to get violently sick.
“Things just went from bad to worse after take-off but the one consolation we had was that the children were in good hands,” said Ms Fitzpatrick.
“Many of the children were vomiting, fainting, their blood pressure was jumping up and down and there were a lot of trips to the toilet.
“We didn’t know what was going on or what they were suffering from. The children were very panicked.”
The flight crew aboard the Ryanair flight were so concerned about the group that they called Dublin Airport to arrange for emergency medical staff to be on stand-by for when the flight landed.
As part of the day-trip, the group enjoyed a tour of Anfield Stadium and had meals in a fast-food restaurant. The group believe they may have eaten some contaminated food which sparked off the illnesses.
Ms Fitzpatrick said the incident spoiled what had been a wonderful, happy occasion for the group.
“They all had such a great time and then it all went wrong,” she said.
“It was heartbreaking to see the kids so sick. Even those who weren’t sick were terribly upset by what unfolded.”
According to Ms Fitzpatrick, despite the ordeal the group has a lot to be thankful for and they were grateful to the Ryanair crew who gave them assistance during the ordeal.
“We were extremely lucky that the Ryanair staff were so good to us, they went far beyond the call of duty to help.
“Ryanair gets a lot of bad press but the staff were absolutely amazing.
“There were also six passengers who were doctors on the flight so we got all the care and attention we needed.”
The pilot radioed ahead requesting that emergency crews be on standby to transport some of the teenagers to hospital. The plane was met by ambulances on the runway and those suffering worst were rushed to hospital.
“It was quite traumatic. The children were very shaken but thankfully they all recovered from the bout.”
Out of the group of 37, 26 people suffered from the illness which is believed to be a severe bout of food poisoning.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said it’s believed that some chicken eaten before the group arrived at Liverpool Airport was responsible for the illnesses.
“We can confirm that a number of children became sick during one of our flight’s from Liverpool after they had eaten fast food prior to boarding,” the spokesperson told Northside People.
“Emergency services at Dublin Airport were requested and some of the children were taken to hospital.
“The cabin crew assisted all ill passengers and as a precautionary measure, the captain requested the emergency services to be on standby.”

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