A flight of British cheap flights operator Jet2 that took off from Ben Gurion Airport to Manchester Thursday evening was forced to make an emergency landing in Budapest after the air pressure in the plane cabin dropped and the oxygen masked had been released.
Ynet has obtained exclusive footage of the incident inside the Boeing 757, which was carrying 242 passengers.
In a separate incident Thursday night, an El Al airplane making its way from Tel Aviv to Bucharest was forced to land
in Istanbul following a malfunction in one of its engines.
The flight to Manchester took off at 6:55 pm. At some point, the captain informed the passengers that air pressure in the aircraft is rapidly dropping, forcing the crew to divert the flight to Budapest.
Daniela, who was on the flight, recounted the moments of fear: "At some point the captain said there was an emergency and the oxygen masks immediately dropped. It was really stressful. We saw the flight attendants running, they disappeared.
"We were with the masks on for over 20 minutes. We didn't know what was going on; there was a smell of something burnt on the plane."
According to Daniela, "We were told that one of the engines had shut down following a malfunction."
After long, nerve-wrecking minutes the aircraft landed safely at the Hungarian airport.
Jet2 operates cheap flights on which no food or drinks are served. Flight tickets are sold solely through the company's website and enable passengers to get to Manchester directly.
The passengers complained that no one at the airport had explained to them what was going on and that no food had been provided to them during their long 17-hour stay at the terminal and before they were transferred to a hotel.
A spokesperson for the British airline told Ynet: "“Last night Jet2.com flight 908 from Tel Aviv to Manchester was diverted to Budapest due to a cabin pressure issue.
“Despite visa problems for some of the passengers with passports from outside the EU, Jet2.com was able to liaise closely with airport authorities to ensure that everyone could spend the night in a local hotel.
“A replacement Jet2.com aircraft arrived in Budapest at around 11 am this morning and passengers are due back to Manchester at 2.50 pm today. The plane will be met by Jet2.com representatives on arrival.”
The British Transport Department said it was awaiting the results of a Hungarian probe into the incident. The Hungarian authorities reported that they have handed over the investigation to the country's Transportation Safety Bureau.
The initial report was received through the Red Email
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