A flight from Germany to the United States has diverted to Shannon Airport after the crew declared a medical emergency off Ireland’s south coast this morning.
Lufthansa flight LH-462, with 389 passengers and crew on board, was travelling from Frankfurt to Miami, Florida and was about 90 minutes into its journey when the crew declared a medical emergency.
The flight crew confirmed they had a passenger on board who had fallen ill and that there was a medical professional was caring for the patient. It’s understood the passenger experienced a cardiac incident.
The crew was cleared to divert to Shannon Airport. The Boeing 747-830 aircraft commenced its decent but continued west over the Atlantic so the crew could dump aviation fuel. This is standard procedure to ensure an aircraft touches down within safe landing weight limits.
The flight descended to 16,000 feet, proceeded west of Kerry before turning and continuing north off the Clare coast for a time until the crew had completed their fuel jettison procedure. After about 30 minutes the crew was then cleared to commence their approach to Shannon.
Authorities at Shannon were informed of the unscheduled arrival while the National Ambulance Service was also notified and requested to mobilise resources to the airport.
Shannon Airport’s fire and rescue service was alerted and mobilised to holding positions adjacent to the runway ahead of the aircraft’s arrival. This is standard practice at Shannon for any aircraft that has dumped fuel before landing.
The flight landed at 12.27pm and was pursued along the runway by fire crews who also remained with aircraft until it reached its parking stand where airport staff and ambulance paramedics were also standing by.
The patient was removed to University Hospital Limerick for treatment. The flight continued its journey to Miami at 2.25pm.
This was the first diversion to Shannon Airport of the new year. Of the estimated 90 unscheduled arrivals Shannon dealt with in 2025, 24 were medical emergencies.
