The captain collapsed – the passengers began to pray

An Air Canada flight from Newark to Halifax made an emergency landing in Boston on Wednesday after passengers said the captain suffered what appeared to be a seizure and the plane veered sharply mid-air. According to Air Canada, the captain experienced a medical problem during the flight and was removed from the cockpit in accordance with safety procedures.

“As soon as the plane veered, I knew something was wrong because it wasn’t turbulence,” passenger Rodney McDonald told ABC News. He said he, his wife and two sons were among 61 passengers on the flight, which was operated for Air Canada by regional partner PAL Airlines. “Every thought goes through your head, you start praying. My sons immediately started praying.”

The flight departed from Newark, New Jersey, at 12:39 p.m., in a twin-engine de Havilland Dash 8-400. McDonald said that a flight attendant took the captain out of the cockpit, and that he helped restrain him for about 40 minutes using seat belts: “It was clear that he was not in control of his abilities and had to be restrained.”

According to FlightAware, police and airport personnel were alerted at 1:40 p.m., and the plane landed at Boston’s Logan Airport shortly before 2:00 a.m. In a contact recording published on ABC, a report was heard: “The pilot is unfit. The plane is being flown by the co-pilot.” Air Canada said the co-pilot took control of the plane and diverted the flight to Boston, where it landed safely.

Ambulances were called to the plane after landing and it was towed to the gate. The plane took off from Boston at 7:30 p.m. and landed in Halifax just before 9:30 p.m. local time. Additional details about the captain’s condition have not been released.