Kerala   

Passengers create ruckus in plane

Nedumbassery: A group of passengers onboard an Air India Express flight created a ruckus after the plane was diverted to Kochi from Kozhikode due to bad weather on Wednesday.

The drama unfolded after the flight IX 344 operating in the Dubai-Abu Dhabi-Kozhikode sector landed at the Cochin airport at 9.30 a.m. after being diverted from Kozhikode. The aircraft, with 165 passengers on board, was shifted to the isolation bay owing to lack of space.

According to airline officials, the flight could not resume its journey after the weather cleared over Kozhikode as its pilot had already done the maximum number of three landings permissible a day.

However, a group of passengers refused to accept the explanation given by the airline and insisted that plane take off. “The passengers were told that either they would be taken by road or accommodated in an aircraft leaving for Kozhikode in the evening. But they were in no mood to listen to our explanations and created a ruckus inside the aircraft”, said an airline spokesperson.

He said though the pilot had tried to avoid the diversion by hovering over Kozhikode for over half an hour, the bad weather did not permit landing there.

A group of 15 passengers refused to disembark from the aircraft and also stopped the co-passengers from doing so. The group also destroyed the lights placed in the stepladder of the aircraft, the spokesman said.

The protesters did not allow security personnel including the CISF and the State police to enter the aircraft. The confrontation, which lasted for over four hours, ended in the afternoon after the police threatened the protesters with arrest.

Later, the passengers were accommodated in an Air India flight which left for Kozhikode by 4.15 p.m.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

VS remarks misleading: Chennithala
Directive to government
MP’s plea on polling officers
In troubled waters
Thirst for life
Dance of despair
Preparations
Seeking solution
Train accident averted
Bounty from the sea
Archbishop laid to rest
Centre deceived Kerala on Free Trade Agreement: Achuthanandan
Passengers create ruckus in plane

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu