Flight Attendant Dies a Week After Smoke Causes Plane’s Emergency Landing

A Swiss flight attendant onboard a Swiss Airlines plane that made an emergency landing due to smoke in the cabin died after over a week of hospitalization, the airline has announced. The Dec. 23 flight from Bucharest, Romania to Zurich, Switzerland was diverted to Austria after smoke seeped into the cabin and cockpit of the Airbus A220-300 plane. The airline, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, said the smoke was caused by engine problems; two crew members were hospitalized and 10 passengers sought medical attention. The crew member died at the hospital in Graz, Austria. The airline announced that they would not release details about his identity or cause of death out of respect for his family. Oliver Buchhofer, the COO of Swiss Airlines, said the company will be “doing our utmost, together with the relevant authorities, to determine the causes involved. We have many questions, and we want them answered.”