A 15-year-boy with suspected meningitis is recovering in hospital this afternoon after the transatlantic flight on which he was travelling declared an emergency and diverted to Shannon Airport.
Continental Airlines flight CO61 was en route from Brussels to Newark Airport in the US when the pilot contacted air traffic controllers at Shannon to notify them that a 15 year old boy had fallen ill on board and that crew members suspected he was suffering from meningitis.
The flight is understood to have crossed the Irish coastline at 10.40am this morning and was about an hour in to its Atlantic crossing when the pilot sought permission to land at Shannon. The aircraft turned around and diverted to Shannon where it landed safely at 12.48pm.
Fire crews escorted the jet to the terminal building where medical crews were standing by to assess the patient.
Two ambulances from Ennis and Limerick and a local doctor were waiting for the aircraft when it landed.
The teenager was examined at the scene and later removed by ambulance to St John’s Hospital in Limerick City for treatment. The patient was accompanied to the hospital by his parents. It is not clear whether the teenager is suffering from the potentially life-threatening bacterial meningitis or the less serious viral infection.
A spokesperson for St John’s Hospital in Limerick said, “We do not give out details of a patient’s condition except to the immediate family and they are on the ward (with the patient).” The hospital also declined to confirm whether the teenager is suffering from meningitis.
The passengers remained on the aircraft while it was refuelled and it resumed its journey at 3.19pm after two and a half hours on the ground.