250 London-bound passengers stranded due to snag in aircraft

About 250 passengers of a Virgin Atlantic flight to London were stranded today after the aircraft developed a technical fault just before take off, leading to its cancellation.

The British carrier's Delhi-London flight (VS301) was to take-off from IGI airport for Heathrow at 1300 hours but the pilot detected the fault after all passengers boarded the flight, airport officials said.

The passengers were informed that the flight would take off shortly and were asked to remain seated, they said.

But when the fault could not be rectified till 5.30pm, the flight was cancelled, they said, adding the passengers had to remain in the aircraft for over four hours.

An airline spokesperson said that keeping safety of the flight in mind, the cancellation was made.

The passengers were provided hotel accommodation and would leave for their destination tomorrow in another flight, the spokesperson added.