Passengers stranded at Larnaca airport for 40 hours

More than 360 Irish airline passengers were expected back in Dublin from Cyprus last night almost 40 hours after their Helios Airways flight was cancelled.

The distraught passengers said they had been stranded in the departures lounge at Larnaca airport since the early hours of Sunday morning, had received misleading information about their flight and had no contact from Helios Airways representatives.

A pregnant woman and a passenger with diabetes required medical attention at the airport during the delay. Two other passengers, one with a heart condition and another with asthma were taken to a local hospital, according to fellow passengers.

The flight was due to leave Cyprus at 7am on Sunday. Shortly before the departure time passengers say they were told that there was a minor mechanical problem and the flight would have to be delayed until an engineer arrived to fix the fault.

Some hours later they were told that due to the delay the flight crew had exceeded the hours in which they could fly.

Later on Sunday, airport staff told passengers an Israeli airline would take them that evening. When this flight was not listed on the departures board, passengers said they were told that a flight with a Dutch airline was being organised. However, this also failed to materialise.

"We have been treated shamefully," Mike Clarke from Limerick said. "We were the only nationals delayed in this way, all other flights, to places like Prague and Luton, have kept going out without problems."

Passengers could not be guaranteed when an aircraft would be available and felt "trapped" in the departure lounge, he said.

"We stayed all day and then slept on the floor at the airport. Everybody was afraid to leave the airport, because we didn't know when a plane might come and we might miss our only chance of getting out."

No one from Helios Airways was available at the airport, Mr Clarke said. "We were only able to talk to travel reps or airport staff, so we had different people giving us different stories all the time. No Helios rep came in to meet us, they're behaviour is just shameful."

Passengers did receive meal vouchers during the delay, but there were no facilities for showers. Some passengers had required medical attention for pre-existing conditions, he said, but many, including several small children, had become sick through exhaustion and dehydration. "It's a bloody mess. It's ruined the holidays for everyone," Mr Clarke said.

Laura Mallon, who had been on holiday on the island with her husband and two teenage daughters, said she had attempted to contact the airline but had received no answer on its customer care line.

"Everyone had spent the night in the freezing cold with no blankets until seven in the morning. A lady with a heart problem had to be brought to hospital, infants were crying, so I tried to get in touch with the company. Reservations passed me to customer care and they just didn't answer the phone."

A spokeswoman for Helios in Britain said there had been a technical problem with one of their charter aircraft which meant it had to be grounded and there were not enough other craft in the fleet to service the route.

"We're only a small company, we're not BA, so the reason for the delay was that we had to get other charter planes from somewhere."

Leasing another charter flight had taken considerable time she said, because most companies are fully booked for the peak holiday season.

The Irish passengers were expected to arrive in Dublin on two flights late last night.

Last week a Helios Airways Boeing-737 crashed into a Greek mountain killing all 121 passengers and crew. A similar aircraft operated by the company had to be diverted from Luton airport near London to Stansted last Friday after the pilot feared a problem with the aircraft's flaps.