A flight from Addis Ababa to Mumbai, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, had to make an emergency landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) early Friday morning at 1:42 AM.
The reason for the emergency was a serious issue with the plane’s air pressure system. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, flying at 33,000 feet over the Arabian Sea, suddenly lost cabin pressure. This caused the pilots to quickly bring the plane down to a lower altitude to ensure passengers could breathe properly.
After landing, medical staff at the airport treated seven passengers who showed signs of illness related to the pressure drop. One person was taken to the hospital for further care.
The affected flight was ET640, and the aircraft’s registration number is ET-AXS.
This incident happened just a few days after a similar one on an Air India flight from London to Mumbai, where 11 people, including 6 crew members, felt dizzy and sick. That case is still being investigated.
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Airplanes are built to fly at high altitudes where there isn’t enough oxygen, so cabins are kept pressurised with fresh air and oxygen. If this system fails, the oxygen levels drop and emergency oxygen masks drop down from above each seat.
Such events are rare, but they can be dangerous if not handled quickly — which is why pilots are trained to descend fast and land safely when this happens.
