150 passengers left stranded overnight in Rome by a cancelled Aer Lingus flight have an odd-smelling onboard snack to blame for their troubles.
Their flight home was cancelled after a plane that had left Dublin for Rome last night was diverted to Gatwick when the smell of gas was detected.
Many of the 150 stranded passengers say they were forced to sleep on the floor of the airport when no accommodation was offered to them.
A flight from Dublin to Rome had been grounded yesterday afternoon due to an air traffic control strike in Italy. It eventually took off but suffered a further delay when it was diverted to Gatwick following reports of a gas odour.
Dick Butler, the head of operations for Aer Lingus, said that after two security checks, the smell turned out to be coming from food a passenger had been eating on board.
Aer Lingus say they attempted to find overnight accommodation for the passengers stranded in Rome but it was difficult to find hotels because of the air traffic controllers' strike.
The passengers were expected to be flown home this afternoon. Aer Lingus says it will now review the way it communicates with passengers delayed at overseas airports.
