BUDGET airline Ryanair has been forced to review procedures after a three-year-old child fell through a set of stairs while boarding an aircraft at Stansted Airport.
An Air Accident Investigations report published today (August 12) recommended three safety recommendations following the incident which happened on July 17 last year.
The child fell through a gap between the handrail and the top platform and landed heavily on the tarmac below. She was airlifted directly to hospital but released 24 hours later.
The report said: “The gap between the extendable handrail and the upper platform of the Boeing 737 represented a hazard to small children boarding or disembarking the aircraft.”
As a result Ryanair has reviewed and carried out improvements to its boarding procedures in a bid to prevent any further accidents.
A spokesman for the airline said: “New procedures including new high-visibility Tensabarriers, and specific announcements to passengers travelling with young children on both boarding and disembarkation, have been introduced in order to eliminate any recurrence of these extremely rare events.”
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