British Airways emergency: Pilots and cabin crew taken to hospital after Vancouver incident

The flight was on its way to London from San Francisco when it was diverted after crew members were reportedly taken ill

The passengers were put up in hotels and rebooked on other flights (AP)

All 25 British Airways crew on board an Airbus A380 "SuperJumbo" were taken to hospital after the captain declared a medical emergency and diverted to Vancouver. Initial reports suggested they were being treated for smoke inhalation, though this was denied by the airline.

Flight BA286 from San Francisco to London was at 37,000 feet over the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, about two hours into its flight, when a decision was taken to divert the jet. A FlightAware record of the flight shows that the aircraft initially changed course and headed for the nearest big airport, Calgary, before switching to Vancouver. It is not known if poor weather at Calgary, or the lack of facilities for handling the A380 “Superjumbo”, was responsible.

The plane was on its way to London when it diverted (Flight Aware ) (Flight Aware)

The flight made an emergency landing in Vancouver at 11.35pm on Monday. Images showed emergency vehicles surrounding the plane on the Tarmac.

Laura Kohli, a spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals, initially told Canadian broadcaster CBC that 25 people had been taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

Ten patients went to Richmond Hospital, another 10 went to the Vancouver General Hospital, and another five went to the Delta Hospital.

A passenger on board, Liz Keller, tweeted: “Passengers on #ba286 pretty much totally in the dark about what happened on board or what comes next.

“Not reassuring to see firefighters with respirators walking aisles and only be told the crew was taken ill.”

The Airbus A380 had left San Francisco at at 7.13pm on Monday evening, local time, and was due to arrive at Heathrow at 1.40pm on Tuesday.

BA said it was investigating the cause of the incident.

“At the moment we don’t know the cause of the incident and are carrying out an investigation... We don’t at this stage know it was a fume event,” a statement said. Passengers have been put up in hotels and will be rebooked on other flights.

Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Gavin Wilson told the Associated Press that 25 crew members were taken to three Vancouver hospitals as a precautionary measure, assessed and released.

“British Airways has confirmed they were all crew members,” he said. No passengers were taken to the hospital.

He said initial reports that the crew had been treated for smoke inhalation were being revised.