Poop leak forces emergency airplane landing

Talk about a crappy flight.

Passengers on a Virgin Australia flight headed to Sydney from Los Angeles had to suffer through what some described as an "unbearable" smell Monday when human feces allegedly spilled out from the bathroom and into the aisles, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The plane and its smelly stowaways subsequently pulled an emergency U-turn and landed in LA around 4am Tuesday.

"We could see [human waste] go through the aisles, like it was very obvious", passenger Julia Malley told New Zealand radio.

But Virgin Australia denied the excremental accusations, telling the Sydney Morning Herald the incident was simply a sink leakage. The airline stopped just shy of saying, "Whoever smelt it, dealt it".

"The onboard toilets operate on a completely separate drainage system", an airline spokesperson said. "As the issue was with the aircraft sink, and not the toilets, there was no incident of leaked human waste."

Fliers were reportedly issued masks, which they wore for three hours to avoid the unpleasant smell, before the flight landed at LAX. The excrement apparently didn't pose a hazard to the aircraft itself, but as anyone who's ever been on a subway car when someone's pooped could explain, hotboxing fecal odors is not a good time.

The cause of the foul incident remains unclear, but the skid-marked aircraft's since been cleaned and outfitted with new underpants so it could return to the skies.


Chloe Pantazi is an editorial assistant on Thrillist's travel team. Yes, that's a British accent. No, she doesn't watch Doctor Who. Follow her on Twitter at @ChloePantazi.