El Al flight makes emergency landing in frozen Canada

Passengers stuck inside plane at Goose Bay air force base waiting for replacement aircraft as temperatures outside hit -22F

By ToI Staff 15 January 2018, 12:25 am

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El Al flight 008 from New York to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Goose Bay, Canada on January 14, 2018. (Screen capture: Hadashot news)

An El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv was forced to make an emergency landing on a Canadian air force base Sunday due to a technical fault in the plane’s cockpit, Hadashot news reported.

Flight LY008 was forced to land in the nearest airport, which was Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hundreds of passengers had to remain on the plane for several hours while a replacement aircraft was sent from New York to take them on to Israel.

With temperatures outside reportedly at -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 degrees Celsius), passengers huddled under blankets to stay warm.

“We’ve been here about six and a half hours,” Chen Harel, one of the passengers told Hadashot news. “Every minute that passes is harder and harder for us, and we hope it will end quickly – there are adults and children here.”