Bad weather and dead passenger delay MH002

- AFP

PETALING JAYA: Passengers on board Malaysian Airlines flight MH002 from KL International Airport (KLIA) to Heathrow in London were stuck in the plane for five hours while it sat on the tarmac in Manchester.

They had to remain in the plane when it arrived at Manchester Airport because of medical emergency due to a death of a passenger.

MH002 took off from KLIA at around 11.47pm on Sunday and was supposed to arrive at Heathrow at 1pm on Monday.

However, it was diverted to Manchester Airport due to strong winds from Storm Katie.

Following a three-hour delay due to the diversion, the passengers had to stay in the plane longer because of the medical emergency. 

One passenger, Josh Pearce, took to twitter to vent his frustrations at being stuck on board for hours without any explanation.

"@MAS after 4 hours with no real updates its beginning to wear thin!!!

"Unacceptable, irrespective of the death of a passenger," he tweeted.

Another passenger with the handle @jumanjie91 said: "@MAS Quite easily my most horrific airline experience MH002. Tragedy aside, the lack of communication with passengers was inhumane."

Passengers also struggled with no food for the hours stuck on board.

"@MAS Malaysian Airlines, this is a disgrace, nobody is communicating! Give us some answers, or at least some food!" tweeted Raphael Hurwitz.

In a statement, MAS apologised to passengers for the prolonged delay at Manchester Airport.

"In the interest of safety due to adverse weather and closure of Heathrow Airport, the flight was diverted to Manchester," it said.

"Unrelated and unfortunately, we regret that a passenger on board passed away during the flight before arrival in the UK." 

"This resulted in a further delay to await the arrival and inspection by the relevant authorities in Manchester. The aircraft was also quarantined as per regulatory requirements."

MAS also said due to regulatory compliance, it was unable to proceed with its journey to London despite the improved weather and reopening of Heathrow Airport. 

"After completion of the aircraft inspection, our crew had exhausted their duty time limitation to conduct a safe flight back to London," it said.