by Donald Wood
Last updated: 2:15 PM ET, Tue December 3, 2019
Passengers on a flight from Amsterdam to Mexico were in the sky for 11 hours on Thanksgiving, but the plane was forced to make an emergency landing that brought it back to where they started.
According to The Independent, KLM Flight KL685 departed from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol en route to Mexico City International Airport and was 5.5 hours into the trip when pilots were informed a volcanic eruption would not allow them to land in Mexico.
The plane was traveling over Canada when the eruption created "unfavorable flying conditions," but instead of calling for a landing at a nearby airport, the flight was forced to turn around and fly 5.5 hours back to the Netherlands.
The Boeing 747 was not permitted to land at another destination due to the visa requirements of passengers. In addition, KLM officials said the plane had to return to Amsterdam due to the "large cargo of horses onboard."
"The flight landed safely at Schiphol at 2:30 a.m. local time, where the passengers disembarked normally and have been taken care of in Amsterdam," a KLM spokesperson told The Independent. "They will be rebooked on an alternative flight."
Crazy incidents continue to happen that force emergency landings for air travelers.
In November, a Philippines Airlines Flight 113 that had just departed from Los Angeles International Airport was forced to make an emergency landing after flames were seen shooting out of one of its engines shortly after takeoff.
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