250 passengers stranded at Turkey airport for more than 40 hours over flight diversion
PTC News Desk: More than 250 passengers including Indian are stranded at Turkey's Diyarbakir airport for over 40 hours after Mumbai bound Virgin Atlantic flight from London was diverted to Diyarbakir airport. The flight was diverted due to an urgent medical reason and the passengers have been stuck for over 39 hours now.
"The safety and security of our customers and crew remains our highest priority, and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. Subject to receiving the necessary technical approvals, we will continue flight VS1358 to Mumbai from Diyarbakir Airport at 12:00 local time on Friday 4th April," the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said.
"If approvals are not received, we plan instead to provide a bus transfer for customers to an alternative aircraft at another Turkish airport tomorrow to complete our customers' journey to Mumbai," the airline said. "In the meantime, passengers are being provided with overnight hotel accommodation and refreshments in Turkey, while we work towards a resolution, and we will keep all customers informed as soon as new updates become available," Virgin Atlantic said.
Stranded passengers in seeming anger took to their social media to flag the concerns and express their distress. Many passengers complained of single-toilet for 300-odd passengers as they waited at the airport. They also complained of authorities reckless behaviour where they were not even offered blankets to brave the chilling temperature.
Visuals showed passengers resting on airport seats, visibly harrowed by the delay and uncertainty after the disruption.
- PTC NEWS
