Ryanair asked to carry out safety review after child falls from steps
12.08.10
Ryanair has been asked to review its operating procedures after a three-year-old girl fell from the top of aircraft boarding stairs, through a gap, onto the tarmac. Olga Smart fell as her mother carried her 18-month-old brother and luggage at Stansted Airport in July 2009.
Olga was climbing the stairs unaided when she fell through a space between the handrail and the level platform at the top of the steps. She was airlifted to hospital after receiving immediate medical help and was released 24 hours later.
An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report in to the incident said Ryanair should ensure assistance was available to passengers with children and with special needs. It said there had been four similar incidents previously reported in the airline industry involving small children, which had led to US aviation authorities taking action, including updating the Boeing 737 flight attendant manual.
The budget airline said it had reviewed its procedures since the incident. A Ryanair spokesman said: ‘New procedures including new high-visibility Tensabarriers, and specific announcements to passengers travelling with young children on both boarding and disembarkation, have been introduced in order to eliminate any recurrence of these extremely rare events.’
However, the modifications proposed by Ryanair ‘only off a limited physical protection against falling’, the AAIB said, and it urged the airline to offer help to passengers.
To book a stansted airport hotel or stansted airport car park at the lowest price, click on these links to two great stansted airport car parking and stansted airport hotel price comparison pages.
