42 Hours And Counting: Over 250 Virgin Atlantic Passengers Stranded In Turkey, To Return To Mumbai Today

42 Hours And Counting: Over 250 Virgin Atlantic Passengers Stranded In Turkey, To Return To Mumbai Today

42 Hours And Counting: Over 250 Virgin Atlantic Passengers Stranded In Turkey, To Return To Mumbai Today

PTI 

Mumbai : More than 250 Virgin Atlantic passengers, including several Indians, have been stranded at Diyarbakir Airport in Turkey for nearly 40 hours, after their Mumbai-bound aircraft from London was diverted due to medical emergency.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said that, subject to receiving the necessary technical approvals, the airline will operate flight VS1358 to Mumbai on Friday.

If approvals are not received, the airline plans to arrange bus transfers for passengers to another Turkish airport, from where an alternative aircraft will take the passengers to Mumbai, the spokesperson said.

On Thursday, the spokesperson said the VS358 flight from London’s Heathrow to Mumbai on April 2 was cancelled due to an urgent medical diversion to Diyarbakir. After landing, the aircraft had a technical issue.

Apologising for the inconvenience caused to passengers, the spokesperson had said its engineers are continuing a thorough assessments of the aircraft.

A stranded passenger said passengers had been sitting on the floor with no blankets or vegetarian food available. The passenger spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The airline spokesperson also said that passengers were being provided with overnight hotel accommodations and refreshments, while it works towards a resolution.

Over 250 passengers are stuck at the airport. An A350-1000 aircraft was operating the flight that has over 300 seats, sources said.