Smoke indication in cargo hold of Cayman Airways Boeing 737-300, diversion and emergency evacuation at Orlando Airport

On 8 September, a Cayman Airways Boeing 737-300 (VP-CAY) operated flight KX792 between George Town, Cayman Islands and New York JFK, United States. Approximately one hour into the flight, an emergency was declared following a warning light indicating the presence of smoke in one of its cargo holds, the pilots decided to divert to Orlando, United States. 

With the uncertainty of what was causing the indication, the 103 passengers and 5 crew members evacuated the aircraft via the emergency chutes. Emergency services were on stand-by to assist and treat passengers and crew members if needed.

Passengers and crew have been provided accommodations and a replacement flight has been arranged on 9 September.

An investigation is in progress, but there is no evidence of any actual smoke being present in the cargo hold, the airline announced.

“We are extremely mindful that this emergency landing and evacuation was a very distressing event,” commented Cayman Airways CEO Fabian Whorms. “On behalf of Cayman Airways, I offer a most sincere apology to our passengers for having to experience this emergency landing and evacuation, which was necessary in the interest of the safety of our passengers and crew. We have removed the affected aircraft from service indefinitely in order to accomplish the required repairs.”

(Not related to the incident) Featured image by User:Tiger2gator, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61595479