Aniket Sardhana
Emergency landing, technical glitch, and then poor facilities left passengers without food, toilets, or communication at Diyarbakir Airport
More than 250 passengers, among them mostly Indian, had to wait for more than 30 hours at Diyarbakir Airport in Turkey after a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Mumbai made an emergency landing on Wednesday morning. The Airbus A350-1000 was under medical emergency but made a “hard landing,” as the airline described it, before a technical snag was found and could not continue its journey.
The airport is small and military in nature, located in southeastern Turkey, without basic features like food outlets, proper toilets, or charging ports. Conditions for stranded passengers were reported to be worsening with the nonavailability of clean restrooms and good food. Many had also lost the phone contact to their families.
There had been many desperate messages sent on social media by the relatives of those stuck. Aam Aadmi Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon, whose sister and niece were on the flight, highlighted the dire situation on X (formerly Twitter), saying airport staff members spoke little English and that passengers were crammed into a small area without food or charging for phones. However, taking to the platform, one user, Sherilyn Fernandes, said of her relative that in over 24 hours, she had received only a sandwich.
Adding to the sorrows of some of the passengers, airport personnel were demanding their passports, fuming over the emergency landing, if indeed they had no hand in the situation.
The crew of the flight was moved to a hotel while the passengers were kept for almost a full day at the airport, and arrangements were made for accommodation in a hotel by Virgin Atlantic. As per the airline, it is now assessing the situation of the aircraft and is keen to look for alternatives that could involve preparing to fly in a replacement aircraft or considering transferring passengers via a bus service to an alternative Turkish airport.
Virgin Atlantic has guaranteed that communication with the passengers shall continue, and they will be provided with food and lodging during this time. If approved, the original aircraft is scheduled to depart for Mumbai at 12:00 pm local time on Friday.
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NI Bureau
