The U.S. Department of Transportation will investigate the overheating of an Atlanta-bound Delta Air Lines plane at the Las Vegas airport on Monday, which caused at least two people onboard to be taken to the hospital.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Reuters on Thursday, “The reports are shocking and we are investigating,” according to the DOT. The agency plans to hold the airline accountable for any violations.
“I want to know how it was possible for passengers to be left in triple-digit heat onboard an aircraft for that long,” Buttigieg said to Reuters.
The DOT says during a tarmac delay, airlines are required to provide comfortable cabin temperatures. They are also required to provide adequate medical attention if needed.
Delta is “cooperating with the DOT on their investigation,” a spokesman for the airline said in an e-mail.
Temperatures in Las Vegas reached as high as 114 degrees on Monday afternoon. The cooling system on the airplane wasn’t working quickly enough to combat the extreme heat that day while the plane was on the ground.
Some passengers on the Delta plane passed out and paramedics boarded the plane, according to a passenger onboard who tweeted about the ordeal.
There were 197 passengers aboard the aircraft, two pilots and four flight attendants. After the hours-long tarmac delay, the flight was canceled.
Airlines are generally required to allow passengers the right to get off a plane three hours into a tarmac delay.
Delta apologized for the heat emergency on Flight 555 in Las Vegas, and said earlier this week it was looking into “the circumstances that led to uncomfortable temperatures inside the cabin” at Harry Reid International Airport.
The airline said it made a “compensatory gesture” to customers and accommodated them on other flights.
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