London Luton-bound flight emergency lands in Hurghada, Egypt

Wizz Air’s plane to London Luton Airport from Hurghada, Egypt, was forced to turn back 15 minutes after take-off on April 22 due to a fire alarm onboard.

Passenger-shot footage shows the hair-raising descent, people rushing to shuttle buses, and airport staff urging them to hurry with fire engines pulling up on the runway.

Warning, explicit language in videos:

@therealtigerking Do not fly WIZZ Air! Emergency landing due to a fire onboard followed by a 36 hour dely with no food or water and then made to fly home on the same plane. They simply do not care! #airplane #airport #airplanecrash #firefighter #fyp #fypage #wizzair ♬ original sound - Jack Hay290

The “scary” experience shocked Alessia Giarrusso, 30, who had been on a birthday getaway, as at the time no one knew what had caused it. But her nightmare journey had only just begun.

“We were kept in the departure bay for almost four hours, with no fresh air and no water for all the passengers,” she said. “Not one of the Egyptian airport staff was giving us information about what was going on and there was no Wizz Air representative in the airport.”

After passengers’ luggage was eventually returned, they were taken to a “low standard” hotel where Ms Giarrusso slept on a wooden bench, due to limited rooms. The following day a replacement flight was scheduled for 2.30pm, but having passed through numerous check-ins and waited two-and-a-half hours, it was again delayed until the next day.

Ms Giarrusso, who worked at Watford General for six years, said she felt “abandoned and teased by Wizz Air”, while video footage shows passengers raging against airport staff.

“I called Wizz Air call centre in Luton Airport asking for clarification and news, but the man firstly blamed Hurghada Airport for the delay. Then when I passed him over to the airport manager, he [the Wizz Air employee] took it back and said there were ‘operational problems’, but refused to get into details and hung up.”

Alessia Giarrusso was stranded in Hurghada, Egypt. (Image: Alessia Giarrusso)

She returned to the same hotel that night, and after several more delays the next morning, the plane finally took off at 10.35am - 36 hours late. But in a sting in the tail, she claims 10 minutes later they were told there was not enough water for everyone and only snacks for the five-hour flight.

According to an Egyptian Airports Company (EAC) statement, reported by local media, the emergency stop was put down to a “false fire alarm”, with airport staff carrying out all protocols to ensure passenger and crew safety.

The Airbus A-321, which was carrying 178 passengers plus crew, landed safely, and upon further inspection was cleared to resume flying.

It is unclear what the reported “operational issues” were. Wizz Air was contacted for comment.