Air Canada crew member trapped in cargo hold of flight as passengers heard cries for help

An Air Canada crew member was trapped in the cargo hold of a flight that was scheduled to take off from Toronto’s Pearson Airport last month, the airline said.

Flight AC1502 was expected to go from Toronto to Moncton, N.B. on Dec. 13, but it never made it to its destination. A member of the ground crew became stuck in the cargo hold when the doors “inadvertently closed” while he was inside, the airline said in a statement to National Post.

“Upon discovery, the aircraft returned to the gate,” the statement said. “There were no injuries, but as this presented a potential safety issue, we have reinforced our procedures with our ground crews.”

A French Canadian travel blogger and realtor Stephanie Curé posted about the incident https://www.instagram.com/p/DTEj4aijDok/?hl=en. In the video, a voice can be heard speaking to passengers. Curé started filming as the announcement was being made.

“I’ve never had that in my life,” the voice says, explaining the situation. “First time, hopefully the first and last. But that’s the reason we had to taxi — get that person out of the airplane. The good news is that the person is perfectly fine and safe.”

He added that there was some paperwork to deal with before taking off. However, the flight was later cancelled, according to airline tracking site FlightAware, CTV News reported.

“They never did get us to Moncton that day,” wrote Curé, in the caption of the post.

“We had already started taxiing when a baggage crew member was under the aircraft in the cargo and could be heard yelling for help and banging underneath us. Thankfully, he got out safely. I still can’t believe this happened.”

Another passenger, Gabrielle Caron, told CBC that passengers sitting at the back of the plane heard “screaming and banging, trying to get their attention.” Someone on the flight “even said that they called 911.”

“We’re noticing the flight attendants are kind of running back and forth in the airplane,” said Caron, “and on the ground, we could see the crew gathering around the plane, so we knew something was happening.”

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