Indian passengers flying from Mumbai to Manchester who have been stuck at Kuwait airport for 13 hours have complained of severe problems including not getting “food or help”. Their ordeal started after their flight made an emergency landing following an engine fire incident.
A chaotic video has surfaced on social media showing the passengers of Gulf Air arguing with the airport authorities.
The passengers alleged they were harassed and only flyers from the European Union, the UK and the US were given accommodation by the airline. They alleged bias and harassment against those holding Indian, Pakistani and other Southeast Asian nation passports.
Arzoo Singh, a passenger, told NDTV they asked for lounge access at least, but the airport authorities did not get back.
“I am saying this on live television. They said ‘if you’re entitled passport holders, and Indians and Pakistanis are not entitled passport holders’, they literally told us if you’re entitled for a transit visa, only then we can put you in a hotel outside,” Ms Singh said.
“We asked them what about us, people who are not ‘entitled’ as you say? They said we will get back to you. We ran behind them for nearly two hours, only after that we got lounge access. We asked for blankets, we asked for food. They didn’t give. No one even gave us water for the first four hours,” Ms Singh told NDTV.
Passengers said their flight took a U-turn before it landed in Kuwait. They said the announcement of the flight diversion came 20 minutes before landing.
Gulf Air has not given a statement on the matter yet.
“It has been more than 13 hours. There are some 60 passengers… They have been telling us since morning, every three hours, that we would be going home,” Ms Singh told NDTV, surrounded by passengers who have been sitting in the terminal for over half a day.
“All of us have work tomorrow, people waiting in the UK. We have been trying to reach the embassy,” she said.
The flight was on its way from Bahrain to Manchester, after coming from Mumbai, and it was flying for nearly two hours when suddenly everyone was told to prepare for emergency landing, the passenger said.
“I saw the engine was on fire. There was smoke. After landing, we asked them so many times to at least give us a place to sit. Everyone was sitting on the floor,” Ms Singh said.
