Virgin flight rerouted after 'toilet explodes,' forcing passengers to vomit in aisle and sit 'in crap for 6 hours wearing a face mask'

(NaturalNews) We've all had crappy experiences while flying, but this story really stinks.

Earlier this month when passengers boarded Virgin Australia Flight VA2 bound from LAX to Sydney, none could scarcely have imagined the ensuing poo-storm that awaited them in mid-flight.

Three hours into the journey, the passenger cabin became filled with the overpowering stench of human waste after an apparent "rest room malfunction," the exact cause and circumstances of which are still being disputed.

The Boeing 777 was forced to return to LAX after what some passengers described as a "toilet explosion," which sent a flood of water containing suspicious-looking debris streaming down the passenger cabin aisle.

Virgin Australia has categorically denied that there was any such explosion, nor floods of human waste, but the fact remains that the airliner was rerouted due to what the airline referred to as "an issue with plumbing in the fresh water overflow system."

The airline also denied claims that passengers were issued masks to deal with the stench, but there has been at least one photograph circulating showing a passenger wearing what appears to be some type of safety mask.

The flight departed from LAX at 7:55 pm local time on Monday, November 3, and returned safely to the airport, landing at 4:09 am Tuesday morning.

The passengers disembarked and were given overnight accommodations while the airliner was repaired and cleaned. The flight was rescheduled and arrived safely in Sydney at 6:47 am Wednesday morning.

Passenger accounts of the ordeal varied, with some reporting a "burnt vomit" smell and others saying that they "sat in crap for six hours wearing a face mask."

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman said that the incident was not related to a toilet explosion, but to a blockage in the pipes which caused two sinks to overflow:

"Following an engineering inspection, a small blockage was found in the sink pipe causing water leakage into the aircraft. It is important to note, the sink system operates on a completely separate drainage system to the toilets. The smell would've naturally come from the sink pipe where people wash [their] hands," she said.

In a letter sent to the passengers after the incident, Roger Lindeman, Virgin Airlines General Manager of Ground Operations wrote:

Dear guests, please accept our sincere apologies for the disruption you encountered on flight VA2, Los Angeles to Sydney.

Unfortunately the aircraft did need to return to Los Angeles due to an issue with plumbing in the fresh water overflow system on board and could not continue with the journey.

At no time was health or safety at risk to any persons on board the aircraft.

The sink blockage was attributed to a toothpaste cap which became lodged in the pipes, but it remains unclear how that could have produced the stench that the passengers reported, not to mention the accounts of poo in the aisle of the passenger cabin.

Julia Malley, a Christchurch, New Zealand, resident who was one of the 47 passengers onboard, said:

"We could see it go through the aisles, like it was very obvious. They said over the loudspeaker that they were going to clean it up etc, and then three hours into the flight they were like, 'I'm sorry we're going to have to turn around it's unsafe.'

"They cleaned it up but the smell couldn't really be hidden."

Regardless of the denials by Virgin Australia regarding Flight VA2, the fact remains that, sometimes, sh*t just happens...

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

http://www.news.com.au

http://www.nzherald.co.nz