A hostage drama unfolded at Mumbai airport as passengers of Air India’s special flight held its crew hostage for more than 12 hours due to fog delays in Delhi on Saturday.
No security agency was called in to rescue the crew, who were released by the passengers — who agency reports said were Haj pilgrims — only on Sunday morning.
As fog created havoc in Delhi on January 2, it brought forth an unknown side of unruly passenger behaviour. Passengers who sometimes misbehave with air-hostesses under the influence of alcohol turned into hijackers when Delhi-bound flights were diverted to Mumbai and they had to put up with delays.
As visibility dropped at the Delhi airport due to fog, coupled with the failure of the runway visibility range equipment, there were more than 53 diversions of Delhi-bound planes to Mumbai, Jaipur and Ahmedabad from 2am to 10am.
AI’s Jeddah-Delhi, London-Delhi, Hongkong-Delhi, Shanghai-Delhi flights were diverted to Mumbai airport.
The equipment gives the ground visibility range along the runway to the aircraft and is placed at the runway’s beginning, middle and end.For the performance of operations for landing and take-off under fog conditions, it’s essential that all components function.
However, the equipment placed at the end of runway 28 in Delhi has not been functioning for the last few days as the cable wire providing electricity to it was cut, sources alleged.
Around 6pm, Mumbai-Delhi extra section flight 891A of a Boeing 777-200 with more than 200 passengers of AI’s diverted flights was formed to leave for Delhi.While AI’s regular Mumbai-Delhi flights left for Delhi, some of them could land, while others had to return due to fog after 8pm.
AI spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava said, “After the return of flights without landing, departure of further flights was held up. It included AI891 A. Passengers had been boarded on the flight in anticipation of departure. Once the flight was aborted due to poor visibility in Delhi, passengers were requested to deplane.”
Around 9pm, the airline told the passengers to alight and proceed to the transit lounge, from where they would be taken to a hotel and passenger coaches were called in. “When the passengers were told to deplane, 20-odd passengers created a ruckus on board. They blocked the exit points and refused to get down or let anyone go,” a crew member said.“As the flight was declared cancelled, the food was off-loaded,” he said.
According to directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) rules, the crew has to be on board till passengers leave, so even the crew could not leave the plane.
“They were assured hotel accommodation till departure on Sunday was fixed. No firm time of departure could have been given at that time as the Met office in Delhi had forecast that visibility would worsen after midnight. The passengers refused to disembark, notwithstanding a request to deplane and an assurance of overnight stay in hotels,” Bhargava said.
As there was no food or water on board, everyone went hungry for more than 12 hours, sources alleged. At 9.40am on Sunday, the passengers alighted when the AI management assured them that they would be sent to Delhi on Sunday itself.
An MIAL spokesperson said the airline did not inform them about the incident.“Whenever there is an irate/unruly passenger on board, the airline informs us and we then inform the CISF, which handles the passenger.”
Director general of civil aviation Naseem Zaidi said he was unaware of the incident and would look into the matter.
The Air India Cabin Crew Association said it was shocked that no Central Industrial Security Force or police personnel were deployed by Air India or the airport operator (Mumbai International Airport Limited) despite knowing the situation.
Association general secretary Sanjay Lazar said, “The association fully sympathises with other passengers whose flights were disrupted due to the unprecedented fog and the problems at Indira Gandhi airport, Delhi.
However, it strongly condemns this illegal confinement of passengers and cabin crew on ground, and has filed a complaint with DGCA to investigate the matter and ensure that such incidents are dealt on par with/as ‘criminal detention of passengers/crew’ and is akin to a hijack on ground.
“The strictest action needs to be taken to bring the culprits to book, and laws have to be put in place to prevent reoccurrence. One can only speculate as to what this handful of unruly and irate passengers could have done in the air.”
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