Flight from hell: Passengers stranded in freezing plane for more than 14 hours

Passengers were forced to sit in a freezing plane for more than 14 hours, many shivering under thin blankets, after two emergencies grounded the flight.

The United Airlines flight had taken off from a New Jersey airport on Saturday, bound for Hong Kong, when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Canada.  

Flight 179 touched down at Goose Bay Airport in Newfoundland after a passenger suffered a medical problem.

But after paramedics took him to hospital, the plane couldn’t take off.

Bitterly cold weather caused a door to freeze.

With no customs officers on duty overnight, the 250 passengers were forced to stay on board with food and water running short.

Sonjay Dutt, a passenger on the plane, said on Twitter that the plane's door had broken and that they were stuck on board as the weather dipped to -30C outside.

Unable to leave for hours upon hours, he began tweeting at United for help, saying that they were running low on food.

On Sunday morning, Goose Bay officials brought on donuts and coffee from Tim Hortons, the classic Canadian fast food restaurant.

United had food delivered to the passengers and "the crew is doing everything possible to assist customers," a United spokesperson said.

Finally, after more than 14 hours, Mr Dutt was able to get off the plane with the rest of the passengers.

"It's been a long long long long day," he tweeted.

Lloyd Slade, another passenger on the plane, said he was "just very tired, at this point" on Sunday.

"Cabin/flight crew have been excellent and very helpful (United HQ/dispatch, not so much.)"

An alternative aircraft containing meals for the passengers was flown to Goose Bay to transport customers back to New Jersey.

"We apologise to our customers and our crew is doing everything possible to assist them during the delay," the company said.

Passenger Steven Lau thanked those who brought Tim Hortons on board.

"(I) feel partly relieved to be on a new plane, but the crew is still loading bags and preparing the aircraft, so not certain when we'll actually take off," he said.

"It's nearing 24 hours since we originally took off from Newark, so we're all feeling restless and frustrated. I'm just ready to be off the plane and finished with this experience."

Mr Lau said some passengers on the flight had decided to scrap their trips entirely in the wake of the overnight stay on the tarmac. He is planning to wait to see how United can get him there ASAP, he said.