Alert – Cabin crew member dies after ‘smoke-filled’ passenger plane makes emergency landing in Switzerland

A cabin crew member has died after a passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Switzerland.

Thick clouds of smoke filled the aircraft as it experienced an engine problem during a flight from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland.

The Airbus A220-300 jet, with 74 passengers and five crew on board, made an unscheduled emergency landing in Graz, Austria on December 23.

Passengers and crew were quickly evacuated off the jet, and 12 people were urgently treated at the scene.

One worker was airlifted to hospital and taken into intensive care, and a second cabin crew member was also dashed to hospital.

One of the cabin crew members on board the plane, described as a ‘young man’, has now died a week on.

A Swiss International Air Lines spokesman said: ‘We must report, with the deepest of sorrow and regret, that our young colleague died in the hospital in Graz on Monday.’

Chief executive Jens Fehlinger added: ‘We are all deeply shocked by the death of our beloved colleague.

The Airbus A220-300 jet, with 74 passengers and five crew on board, made an unscheduled emergency landing in Graz, Austria on December 23 

Footage shows heavy smoke engulfing the cabin on the Swiss airlines flight from Bucharest, Romania , to Zurich, Switzerland

Local police said that 12 passengers and five crew members were injured in the incident. One crew member has now died (pictured: an ambulance on the tarmac after the aircraft made its emergency landing)

‘The news leaves us deeply saddened and stunned. Our thoughts are with the young man’s relatives, whose pain must be boundless.

‘I offer them my heartfelt condolences on behalf of all of us at Swiss.’

Swiss said in a statement that ‘out of respect for the loved ones, we will not provide detailed information about our employee or the cause of death’. 

Initial investigations into the incident have suggested that the plane experienced a technical defect in one of the engines.

This caused the cabin and cockpit to fill up with smoke as crew and passengers scrambled to find safety.

Austrian prosecutors have also launched an inquiry into possible negligent bodily injury. 

Swiss chief operating officer Oliver Buchhofer said: ‘This is the saddest of days for us all.

‘Losing our colleague and fellow member of our Swiss team leaves me distraught and dismayed.’

But he reassured that the airline would ‘with the relevant authorities, to determine the causes involved.’

The aircraft and engine manufacturers have both been informed, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA). 

Following the incident last week, a witness told Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten that the flight attendant was unconscious at the time of the evacuation and had to be resuscitated by other crew members.

Another passenger said that an explosion caused the smoke in the cabin. 

‘There was a strange noise, a lot of smoke and people couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know what had happened,’ the woman told Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung.

She said she was sleeping when the ‘strange noise’ woke her up and she smelled smoke. ‘I panicked, I didn’t know what was going on. I tried to calm myself down,’ she added.

The company confirmed the emergency landing in a statement last week, saying: ‘SWISS flight LX1885 from Bucharest to Zurich made an emergency landing in Graz due to smoke. All 74 passengers and 5 crew members have been evacuated, with 17 requiring medical attention. 

It added that a special flight was due to depart at 9.45am on Tuesday to return the passengers to Zurich before Christmas Day.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.