A PASSENGER JET flying from the US to Europe was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Dublin Airport early this morning after a passenger suffered a suspected heart attack over the North Atlantic. 

United Airlines flight UA-70 was travelling from New York to Amsterdam at the time. There were 234 passengers and crew on board.

Shortly after 5am, when the Boeing 767-400 jet was around 300 kilometres west of Mayo, the flight crew informed controllers at the Irish Aviation Authority’s North Atlantic Communications Centre at Ballygirreen Co Clare that they were declaring a medical emergency.

The crew told controllers they had been in contact with professionals at a dedicated medical advisory services centre on the ground who agreed that the passenger appeared to be displaying symptoms of a heart attack.

The advice was to divert and land as soon as possible and seek medical assistance.

The flight crew opted to divert to Dublin Airport where authorities had been notified of the emergency and medical assistance had been placed on standby.

The aircraft landed safely shortly after 6am and was escorted to the terminal where ambulance paramedics were waiting to board the aircraft and assess the passenger. The traveller was removed to hospital by ambulance.

Flight UA-70 resumed its journey to Amsterdam at around 8.30am.

Dublin Airport has dealt with at least six medical emergencies so far this year.

In 2018, there were 70 diversions comprising technical, medical and weather related incidents. While the DAA doesn’t provide a breakdown of the various diversions, it’s understood that at least 10 of these diversions were medical emergencies.