A plane from Amsterdam to Mexico City was forced to make an unscheduled stopover in Bermuda after the cabin was filled with the stench of 100 pigs. The pigs were transported in the cargo hold of the plane and the maneuver led to a delay of 26 hours for all passengers, the pigs included.
Six hours into the journey between Amsterdam and Mexico City, the plane, a Boeing 787, was forced to deviate from its route to make a stopover on the small island group of Bermuda, about 100 miles east of the North American continent.
The reason?
“The distinct aroma of 100 pigs being transported in the hold,” a stench that “forced the crew to change course to Bermuda for fresh air,” reports Business Insiderwho spoke to a Bermuda airport spokesperson.
26 hours late
According to the airline KLM, unplanned stopovers are a common precaution in situations of a similar nature. A total of 259 people, passengers and crew, were forced to spend the night in hotels in Bermuda while the pigs were looked over by a government veterinarian.
– Thanks to an excellent collaboration between KLM, Delta Air Lines and local actors, both our two-legged and four-legged visitors are safe and well cared for – even if this didn’t quite turn out to be the Christmas holiday they planned, a spokesperson for KLM told Business Insider.
The pigs and the other passengers were eventually able to take their seats on a new plane, to fly on to Mexico City. The plane is said to have landed in the capital about 26 hours after the original arrival time.