Over 200 Indians Stranded in Turkey after Mumbai-Bound Flight's Emergency Landing

A Virgin Atlantic flight VS 358 flying from London to Mumbai was forced to make an emergency landing at Turkey's Diyarbakir Airport (DIY), stranding over 200 Indian passengers for over 16 hours, News18 reported on Thursday.

The Mumbai-bound flight, VS 358, made an unsuitable landing at the airport due to a medical emergency; passengers were also informed that the aircraft developed a technical snag on landing, it said.

"The plane needed to make an emergency landing because of passenger panic attack. The Turkish airport is not competent enough to accommodate the aircraft," the report quoted a passenger as saying.

A passenger approached News18 to say that many remained unclear on what would happen next in their journey as the Virgin Atlantic airline had not made any announcement regarding alternate arrangements for resuming their flight.

We've been stuck in an almost deserted terminal building with no communication. We've little kids, ladies, and some sick individuals, and we have no news other than two flyers that were distributed yesterday evening. It's nearly 14 hours now since we arrived," another traveller explained to Republic.

An X user, Satyam Surana, stated that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave the assurance and the Ministry of Civil Aviation had designated a nodal officer to oversee the situation.

In a separate incident last month, Air India flight AI126 from Chicago to Delhi had to return to its origin because several lavatories on the Boeing 777 aircraft became inoperable. The problem was found to be caused by individuals who flushing down 'polythene bags, rags and clothes'."

The airplane referred to its in-house study based on materials discovered by maintenance personnel who uncovered the objects on the airplane's plumbing system and seemed to be blaming flyers with a call on "passengers to utilize lavatories for nothing but for their intended purpose only."

Air India also mentioned that although not found on this flight, whenever their maintenance team opens up the toilet systems, they usually find some of these: blankets, undergarments, and other waste.