Ryanair flight loses cabin pressure, sending more than 30 people to hospital, German police say

BERLIN – More than 30 Ryanair passengers were taken to hospital, some with ear bleeds, in Germany after their plane to Croatia lost cabin pressure the German police told BBC News. Passengers of the low-cost airline expressed their anger Saturday over how the airline treated them after the unexpected landing in Germany.

Flight FR7312 from Dublin to Zadar made an emergency landing in Frankfurt, according to BBC News. The airline stated that oxygen masks had been deployed and that the crew had conducted a "controlled descent". BBC News reports that according to Flight Radar, the aircraft descended from 26,000 feet from 37,000 feet to 9,800 feet in seven minutes.

German police said 33 of 189 passengers were taken to a nearby hospital. and nausea. All were able to leave Saturday morning.

In interviews with German and Irish media, passengers described moments of terror when their plane – from Dublin to Zadar, Croatia, on Friday night – suddenly descended, following a drop in cabin pressure .

Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling and passengers reported feeling intense pain in their ears until the plane stabilized and landed at Frankfurt Hahn airport .

Spain's Minerva Galvan Domenech told the Spiegel Online information website that passengers, some of whom were bleeding from ears, mouth or nose, had to wait 45 minutes before being allowed to to leave the plane.

Passenger Conor Brennan told the Irish Times newspaper that "the airport staff and the Red Cross have done their best to handle the situation because Ryanair was not found".

"They showed a shocking lack of empathy for their clients, almost at the limit of the inhuman," he said.

Galvan Domenech said that many passengers had to spend the night at the airport, some of them lying on the ground, according to Spiegel Online.

Ryanair stated that the passengers had received coupons but that there was "a shortage of available accommodation". Frankfurt-Hahn has long been an important base for Ryanair.

A replacement flight took some passengers to Croatia on Saturday.

Ryanair has long been harassed by accusations of bad service and mistreatment of staff. Last week, Ryanair pilots in Ireland held their first strike and two further strikes were scheduled for July 20 and July 24.