A fter an emergency landing, an airplane — which operated as SpiceJet flight 487 from Mumbai to Kolkata — was reportedly stranded on the tarmac at the international airport which serves the city of Nagpur on Sunday night, April 17, 2016 due to a technical issue, forcing 190 passengers to spend the night aboard the aircraft with no access to the airport, no food, no water instead of being booked in local hotel properties.
Passengers Forced to Spend the Night Aboard an Airplane
“SpiceJet does not have regular service from Nagpur so there is no support or ground staff here”, according to this article written by Ashish Roy for the Times of India. “The plane therefore had to wait at Nagpur till a Spicejet Engineer could check it. A plane going from Kolkata to Goa on Monday morning brought the engineers here. The engineers repaired the snag and the stranded plane left for onward journey in the morning.”
An ambulance was summoned to transport one passenger aboard the stranded aircraft — who had developed a heart problem — to a city hospital, as there was no chance of arriving in Kolkata on time to treat him. His health will reportedly fully recover.
The aircraft departed for Kolkata on Monday morning, April 17, 2016, to complete the flight, which was ultimately delayed for greater than nine hours.
Comments Posted on Twitter
The comments posted on Twitter by Sara Singha — who was one of the passengers aboard the airplane — are self-explanatory, with her rebuffing an apology issued by the airline for the incident.
Stranded due2 medical n tech snag @NagpurAirport.Passngrs forcd2 wait in plane4 ovr 2hrs @flyspicejet @aajtak @ndtv pic.twitter.com/pYPDNbV6lo
— Sara Singha (@Singha_Sara) April 17, 2016
After a 9hr delay #flightSG487 finally landed in Kolkata. Pathetic management. #FlightDelay @flyspicejet @IndiaToday
— Sara Singha (@Singha_Sara) April 18, 2016
@flyspicejet Sorry doesn't even make a difference any more. #neverflyspicejet
— Sara Singha (@Singha_Sara) April 18, 2016
Summary
Many passengers were annoyed and disgruntled pertaining to the treatment they experienced by the airline — and rightfully so, if indeed all of the details are true. At the very least, they should have been fed and sufficiently hydrated. Passengers have a right to basic humane treatment and conditions; and the airline failed to treat its passengers in a decent manner.
There is no word as to what happened with members of the flight crew.
Fortunately — other than the passenger who experienced a heart problem — there were no reports of any deaths or injuries.
Source: Sara Singha via Twitter.
