Cabin crew member dies after ‘smoke-filled’ passenger plane makes emergency landing in Switzerland

A cabin crew member has died after a passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Switzerland.

Thick clouds of smoke filled the aircraft as it experienced an engine problem during a flight from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland.

The Airbus A220-300 jet, with 74 passengers and five crew on board, made an unscheduled emergency landing in Graz, Austria on December 23.

Passengers and crew were quickly evacuated off the jet, and 12 people were urgently treated at the scene.

One worker was airlifted to hospital and taken into intensive care, and a second cabin crew member was also dashed to hospital.

One of the cabin crew members on board the plane, described as a ‘young man’, has now died a week on.

A Swiss International Air Lines spokesman said: ‘We must report, with the deepest of sorrow and regret, that our young colleague died in the hospital in Graz on Monday.’

Chief executive Jens Fehlinger added: ‘We are all deeply shocked by the death of our beloved colleague.

‘The news leaves us deeply saddened and stunned. Our thoughts are with the young man’s relatives, whose pain must be boundless.

‘I offer them my heartfelt condolences on behalf of all of us at Swiss.’

Initial investigations into the incident have suggested that the plane experienced a technical defect in one of the engines.

This caused the cabin and cockpit to fill up with smoke as crew and passengers scrambled to find safety.

Austrian prosecutors have also launched an inquiry into possible negligent bodily injury. 

Swiss chief operating officer Oliver Buchhofer said: ‘This is the saddest of days for us all.

‘Losing our colleague and fellow member of our Swiss team leaves me distraught and dismayed.’

But he reassured that the airline would ‘with the relevant authorities, to determine the causes involved.’

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.