More than 260 passengers from Virgin Atlantic Flight from London to Mumbai have been stranded at Türkiye’s Diyarbakir Airport for more than 30 hours. These passengers are constantly pleading for help.
Virgin Atlantic described it as a “hard landing”, after which the aircraft was disqualified to fly due to a technical problem. After this, where the crew was taken to the hotel, the passengers were accommodated in the restricted area within the small regional airport where there are not enough facilities.
Airlines statement
After helping the Indian Embassy, some passengers have been taken to a nearby hotel. The airline has said that the backup flight will be prepared by 9 am local time. However, some passengers are still in the airport transit holding area.
Passengers expressed difficulties
At the same time, the trapped passengers alleged that the airline failed to manage basic facilities. Passengers alleged that Virgin Airlines neither made any arrangements for the passengers nor informed when they would be able to leave for Mumbai. Passengers stranded in the aircraft have mentioned the lack of basic facilities including insufficient food, toilet and lack of charging points for electronic devices, while posting on X.
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AAP leader Preeti Sharma-Manon wrote on X, “It has been 24 hours and not a single airline representative has met passengers. They have barely no food, 275 passengers have a toilet, phone battery is ending because they do not have an adapter. This problem includes children, pregnant women, diabetic patients and elderly people.” He requested the government to intervene.
Another user Sanjay Shah wrote, “My family member is trapped in Diyarbakir. She came to meet her father, whose medical condition is weak. Why such inferior behavior with a top aviation company? Why neither eat, nor water. After landing all cabin crupt disappeared.”
Indian Embassy statement
Earlier, the Turkish -based Indian Embassy issued a statement saying, “The Indian Embassy in Ankara is in constant contact with Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Diyarbakir Airport Directorate and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. Proper care of passengers is being taken through the coordination of the mission. We are interacting with the concerned authorities to arrange an alternative flight for Mumbai for early solution and trapped passengers.
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Let us tell you that on Wednesday, the aircraft was diverted due to medical emergency and after that there was a technical fault in it. A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said, “On April 2, the VS 358 flight from Heathro to Mumbai was diverted to Diyarbakir due to medical emergency, after which the aircraft was technically inspected.”