Pregnant woman COLLAPSES after waiting on plane for nearly eight hours in Manchester Airport chaos

A pregnant woman reportedly collapsed as hundreds of passengers waited nearly eight hours on a plane amid chaotic scenes at Manchester Airport on Friday.

Due to a malfunction on a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Hong Kong earlier this month, two other aircraft stranded behind it on the taxiway.

Due to the domino effect, a Brussels Airlines flight to Brussels and a TUI flight to Cape Verde were waiting behind it.

Cathay Pacific later issued an apology and confirmed that the stricken aircraft is being inspected by engineers.

The incident happened just days before thousands of passengers began traveling en masse to see loved ones over the Christmas season.

A passenger on board the Brussels Airlines flight related how customers spent nearly six hours on the taxiway due to the Cathay Pacific flight disruption and were only offered free water.

The flight was scheduled to depart around 12:30 p.m. on December 15 before becoming stuck.

The aircraft was finally towed back to the terminal shortly before 6pm, with passengers given the option of remaining on board or disembarking and finding another journey.

Manchester Airport has since said that ‘all necessary procedures’ have been put in place to ensure passenger safety.

Chris Brereton, who was on his way to Belgium, said a pregnant woman “collapsed” and related how passengers became increasingly frustrated while sitting next to the runway for hours.

He opted to remain on board the flight to enjoy his holiday in Bruges, with the plane eventually taking off for Brussels just after 8pm. It meant the flight was almost eight hours late.

Mr Brereton said: ‘The poor pregnant woman collapsed and two people on board stepped forward to help her.

“This was after hours of sitting on the tarmac behind the broken plane.

“The captain kept saying ‘they’ll come get you in a minute’, but it just didn’t happen. The lady then collapsed in the front of the plane and thank goodness there were trained people on board who knew what they were doing.

“It is to everyone’s credit on board that things have remained so calm and civilized, because it could have started that way.”

Brussels Airlines confirmed that a pregnant woman required medical attention on board after the flight was blocked.

They added that the plane could not be towed back to the terminal due to ‘safety regulations’.

A spokesman for Brussels Airlines said: ‘As previously mentioned, a Cathay Pacific aircraft blocked the runway due to technical problems, which resulted in our aircraft OOSND (flight SN2174) also being blocked on the Manchester runway for several hours.

Due to British safety regulations it was not possible to be towed back to the terminal.

“Despite the difficult situation, we have done our utmost to find a solution for all our passengers.

‘Passengers with connecting flights have been rebooked to other flights. Only those who had Brussels as their final destination left in the evening with our own flight to Brussels.

‘We previously reported that passengers eventually disembarked and were taken to the terminal by bus.

‘Indeed, this did not happen, as the stairs arrived shortly before the Cathay Pacific aircraft cleared the runway and our aircraft was able to taxi back.

“The plane – with an initial delay on arrival in Manchester – was due to take off at around 12.30pm and return to base at around 5.50pm.

The plane was finally pushed back around 8pm – after disembarking all passengers and luggage with connecting flights, disembarking passengers who did not want to travel that day, refueling and defrosting – to take off for Brussels.

“There was indeed a pregnant passenger on board who required medical attention.

“The paramedics attended to her on board and later in the ambulance parked in front of the plane.”

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: ‘We regret the inconvenience to passengers caused by this incident, caused by a technical problem with a Cathay Pacific aircraft.

“The safety of everyone on our site is a top priority and all necessary procedures have been followed to ensure the safety of passengers, aircraft and surrounding airport operations.

“This meant that people on board the affected aircraft were delayed as the designated ground handlers of the affected airlines ensured they could safely deploy the necessary equipment at the airport to resolve the issue.”