Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Multiple People Get Sick From Chemical Odor

Image: American Airlines Airbus A330. (photo via Jozsef Soos/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Image: American Airlines Airbus A330. (photo via Jozsef Soos/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 10:46 AM ET, Thu October 13, 2022

An American Airlines flight departing from Miami International Airport for Barbados was forced to return to MIA after multiple people on board became ill Wednesday evening.

According to CBS Miami, Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue firefighters responded to the tarmac and began patient assessments, transporting five patients, all of them crew members, to a local-area hospital out of precaution.

American told the news outlet that the incident was the result of a chemical odor that spread throughout the cabin from a passenger's carry-on luggage, with a source telling CBS that the odor came from nail polish remover.

Flight 338 landed without incident and impacted passengers were offered hotel accommodations for the night, according to the airline.

The flight departed more than 15 hours late shortly after 9 a.m. ET Thursday and is scheduled to arrive in Bridgetown around 12:30 p.m. local time Thursday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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