Holidaymakers stuck in US as plane damaged

FLIGHT HAD ALREADY BEEN DELAYED BY MEDICAL EMERGENCIES

- STEPHEN TOPPING

HUNDREDS of passengers bound for Manchester became stuck in the US after a 'cherry picker' damaged their flight moments after an emergency landing.

Travellers leaving Cancun, in Mexico, on Monday had already seen their TUI flight delayed by four hours due to a medical emergency on the incoming service.

But, around an hour after takeoff, the flight was forced to make another emergency stop. Mel Lester, 52, told the M.E.N. that one of her fellow passengers had become unwell.

The flight landed at Charleston, South Carolina, and firefighters arrived to rescue the sick passenger. But the ordeal took another unexpected twist when a 'cherry picker' used for emergency services to access the plane damaged the aircraft door meaning the flight was unable to resume.