Air carrier flight crew reported there was miscommunication with ground personnel regarding whether there was dry ice loaded onto the aircraft. The Tug Driver confirmed there was no dry ice on the aircraft but upon landing at the destination airport; dry ice was found in the aft cargo compartment.
Synopsis
Air carrier flight crew reported there was miscommunication with ground personnel regarding whether there was dry ice loaded onto the aircraft. The Tug Driver confirmed there was no dry ice on the aircraft but upon landing at the destination airport; dry ice was found in the aft cargo compartment.
Narrative
During pushback our auto close-out data came back and we noticed it had remarks of what I understood to be dry ice in the aft cargo. I began to question the Tug Driver as we were still hooked up. There was a considerable amount of confusion initially as to what I was asking him. I'm not sure if there was a language barrier or he couldn't hear me very well but I was trying to keep it as simple as possible by just asking if there was dry ice on the airplane. I thought I would start with that to simplify what I was asking and then dig deeper. The initial response was no there was no dry ice." I told him that it was saying there was dry ice. I asked him again and he said "let me check with Operations." In the meantime I called Operations and asked them if there was dry ice on the plane. Operations said "let me check with the rampers." Eventually the Tug Driver said yes there was dry ice in the aft cargo. I said it has to be put in the forward cargo. They had to pull us back into the gate to open the cargo doors so we did that. The aft cargo showed open for a few minutes and then the Tug Driver came back and said "there is no dry ice on the aircraft." I said; "Ok so there is no dry ice on the aircraft." I think he repeated it again and I took that for what I believed to be no dry ice on the airplane. We pushed back and went on our way. In flight I started to think about it and thought maybe we should check it out when we get to ZZZ1. I asked the FO to run out there and look as soon as we block in just to see. Upon his inspection he found there to be a package in the aft cargo containing 2.2 kg of dry ice. I'm not sure how Operations in ZZZ ultimately concluded that there was no dry ice but that's what the Tug Driver told us after talking to his Operations people and looking in the aft cargo.Suggestions: When there is any kind of hazmat on the plane there should be a direct verbal notification just to cover things like this before they even happen. If they would have come up and said there was dry ice in the aft cargo I would have immediately caught that and it would've been fixed."
Second reporter narrative
Upon receiving ACARS numbers; the remarks stated dry ice was loaded and NOTOC. As pushback commenced; the CA queued the rampers via intercom to verify the existence of dry ice and if it had been loaded or not. The Ramper who replied was unsure of the dry ice being loaded. As a precaution; CA and FO confirmed with Operations; which to then; Operations confirmed there was dry ice onboard from their cargo load report. CA communicated to the rampers that we needed to go back to gate to have the dry ice put in the forward cargo compartment. We went back to the gate; we notified Dispatch of the situation; and were told word for word from the Ramper on the intercom; there is no dry ice onboard the aircraft." Both CA and FO saw the aft cargo compartment door open on the Multi-Function Flight Display (MFD) status page; so it was concluded they had checked visually and that no dry ice was loaded onboard. Upon arrival into ZZZ1; the CA instructed FO to check immediately before the rampers in ZZZ1 offloaded any cargo from the aft. FO went and checked and found 2.2 kg of dry ice against the right side of the aft bin; with labels and warnings placarded on the sides of the Company packages containing the items. No damages occurred and the packages were still intact with no signs of damage. CA followed up with ZZZ Operations via telephone after post flight.Suggestions: Have flight crew check visually."
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.