Plane makes emergency landing after passenger emits 'horror' smell

A Transavia flight to Gran Canaria made an emergency landing in Portugal after passengers were reportedly sick from a "horror" smell coming from a man.

One of the passengers Piet Van Haut told Euronews: " The smell was worse than a corpse that had been decomposing for months... The man had peed his pants."

The Belgian said passengers "vomited" in reaction to the smell and were forced to hold towels over their noses.

He added passengers crawled to the front of the plane to escape the man. Aeroplane staff sprayed perfume, but the stench lingered.

According to Haut, the man was locked in a toilet for an hour, though it is unclear who shut him away.

Once the plane made the emergency landing in Faro, in the South of Portugal, the man was taken away in an ambulance. Passengers reportedly had to wait for two hours, while a cleaning crew took to the plane.

In a statement to Euronews, the airliner Transavia confirmed the emergency landing was because of "medical reasons," but did not say if it was due to the man's odour.

However, due to privacy legislation, the airline said it "cannot disclose details about individual cases."

"What we can say is that our crew has acted correctly and carefully in accordance with the applicable procedures," Transavia added.