Grammy winning musician Ricky Kej is among 300-350 passengers who have been stranded at Istanbul airport for 24 hours.
Ricky Kej is among 300-350 passengers who have been stranded at Istanbul airport for 24 hours after a Lufthansa flight to Bengaluru made an emergency landing.
A Lufthansa flight (LH 754) from Frankfurt to Bengaluru on October 18 was diverted to Istanbul due to medical emergency on board. Grammy winning musician Ricky Kej was on the flight and is among 300-350 passengers who have been stranded at Istanbul airport for 24 hours.
He told CNN-News18, “People waited in the aircraft for three hours after landing. The captain announced that hotel accommodation will be provided to the passengers. However, after deplaning, the passengers were taken straight to a lounge. The airline Lufthansa’s staff disappeared, no hotels were given to the passengers. The boarding information was displayed today for departure, but still no staff were to be found.”
The flight is now expected to arrive in Bengaluru on October 20 morning.
Passengers are now saying that they have been stranded at the Istanbul airport for over 24 hours. No hotel, no proper information has been provided yet by the airline.
According to the airline Lufthansa, for safety reasons, the oxygen cylinders used to treat the medical emergency must be replaced before continuing the flight. “Unfortunately this took more time than expected. The flight from Istanbul to Bengaluru is scheduled to depart at 8pm local time. Lufthansa deeply regrets the circumstances and is doing everything to minimise the inconvenience,” the airline said.
But passengers have said that even at 7.40pm local time, there was no staff at the airport, so it didn’t look like the flight would take off at 8pm as promised by the airline. It was later updated that boarding would not happen tonight as well and the passengers were told to leave the boarding gate and clear the area.
