CIGARETTE smoke from a plane toilet has been blamed for forcing almost 200 passengers bound for Sydney to land at Williamtown.
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A Jetstar flight bound for Sydney had to make an emergency landing at Newcastle Airport on Monday night after a crew member smelt smoke coming from one of the toilets.
The Airbus A321, which took off from Coolangatta Airport at 4.04pm with 194 passengers on board, was about an hour into its journey when a full emergency was declared.
Jetstar confirmed on Tuesday that mechanical failure had been ruled out and although no culprit had been found, the incident was likely caused by cigarette smoke.
On Monday night Port Stephens police Inspector Matthew Mears said about 5.15pm a member of the crew reported a strange smell coming from the cabin and alerted the flight crew.
‘‘After about five minutes when the smell remained the pilot contacted the air traffic controller and requested to divert and make an emergency landing at Newcastle,’’ Inspector Mears said.
With only a five minute warning before the impromptu landing, emergency crews on the ground scrambled to the scene.
Meanwhile, those on board were spared any distress because crew members waited until the last minute to tell them they would be landing at Newcastle.
The plane landed safely and all passengers were able to disembark without incident.
Williamtown RAAF base firefighters using thermal imaging cameras and gas detectors were unable to find any indication of what had caused the smoke.
Inspector Mears on Monday night urged anyone on board with information about the cause of the smoke to contact police.
Jetstar engineers were examining the aircraft to determine the cause of the smell.
A Jetstar spokesman said the captain elected to divert to Newcastle as a ‘‘precaution’’.
One flight attendant had to be treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics after feeling dizzy and a passenger was treated for asthma, Inspector Mears said.
One passenger, Mary, from Sydney, said she smelt an odour similar to burnt rubber inside the cabin, but most passengers said they didn’t smell or see anything unusual before the plane made its unexpected landing.
Emergency service vehicles converged on the plane once it touched down on the tarmac and several passengers reached for their phones to take photographs.
‘‘Airport staff were telling people to delete the photographs,’’ passenger Shirley Black said.
‘‘They didn’t want any photographs taken and they were really screaming at people to put their phones away and stop taking photographs.’’
Newcastle Airport clarified on Tuesday that it was ground crew rather than Newcastle Airport employees who requested passengers stop taking photographs.
Jetstar organised three buses to transport the stricken passengers to Mascot, with the first bus arriving more than 90 minutes after the plane was due to land in Sydney.
Several passengers, including Ms Black and Deni Sheridan, were frustrated the bus would only take them directly to Mascot.
