A person died this Thursday at dawn aboard a Brussels Airlines Airbus A330-300 (registered OO-SFD) en route between Dakar Blaise Diagne airport (DSS), Senegal, and Brussels Airport, Belgium. Flight SN204 had to be diverted to Gran Canaria to try to save the life of the passenger, as reported by air traffic controllers.
The plane was in the north of the Canary Islands when it reported medical problems for one of the passengers on board, hence the controllers decided to divert it to the Gran Canaria airfield (LPA) in Las Palmas to be treated by medical personnel. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to save his life.
As the air traffic controllers have explained on their social networks, they tried to “cut back on the manoeuvre as much as possible” although without success, while offering their condolences to their families.
La pasada madrugada se desviaba a #GranCanaria un vuelo de Dakar a Bruselas con un pasajero con problemas médicos a bordo. A pesar de recortar la maniobra en lo posible, desgraciadamente, parece ser que el pasajero ha fallecido. Nuestro pésame a los familiares. DEP. pic.twitter.com/6qJcaWt0a8
— 😷Controladores Aéreos 🇪🇸 (@controladores) January 28, 2021
Source: La Provincia, RadarBox
“hence the controllers decided to divert it to the Gran Canaria airfield (LPA) in Las Palmas”… Are you sure it was the contoller’s decision? I’m an air traffic controller for more than 28 years in Belgium, and one of the first thing you learn during your training is that you have to offer every possiblities to the pilots that encounter any kind of emergency (medical or technical) but we, as controllers, NEVER choose for them! Only the cockpit crew will take all decisions on the conduct of the flight… Would you please verify your informations…