VATRY: A charter plane grounded in France for a human trafficking investigation departed on Monday for India, after an exceptional holiday ordeal that left about 300 Indians en route to Central America blocked inside a rural French airport for four days.
The same aircraft that was taking them to Nicaragua, Legend Airlines, will fly them to Mumbai with a brief stopover in Fujairah.
The passengers include a 21-month-old child and 11 unaccompanied minors who were put under special administrative care.
"There are 276 passengers on board the aircraft returning to Mumbai as 23 have stayed back, seeking asylum. The other passengers voluntarily returned to India. Out of the total number of passengers (303) that were grounded four were from Nepal. Two passengers have been detained by the French authorities as they want to investigate them further,’’ according to a source.
Meanwhile, the two detained passengers are being interrogated for their role in human trafficking. In France human trafficking can lead to upto 20 years of imprisonment.
"We thank the French government and Vatry airport for the quick resolution of the situation enabling Indian passengers to return home and for their hospitality. Also, for working closely with the Indian embassy team, present throughout the site to ensure welfare and smooth and safe return. We thank the agencies in India too,’’ said the Indian Embassy in France.
The investigation in France was carried out with the help of translators. Media was kept away from the airport and tarpaulin was used to cover the façade. The passengers were well taken care of and were provided beds, food, and toilets.
It is learnt that the take-off from Vatry got delayed after some passengers sought asylum. While some demanded that they be flown to Nicaragua as per the original plan.
"There was a lot of confusion as to how many passengers would eventually leave for India. The departure got delayed due to the same,’’ according to Liliana Bakayoko, a lawyer for the Romania-based airline. The airline is likely to press for damages from the partner for whom they chartered this flight. The partner has used this airline for many such flights in the past, and it was only this time that they got grounded.
Most of the 303 passengers on the charter plane are from Punjab. Some individuals among them had even applied for asylum in France while the plane was there.
"Most of these passengers, which include minors (age group 21 months to 17 years) are from Punjab. Some have sought asylum during their interrogation, while the passports of some have been kept by the French authorities. Only after all of them have been screened will a decision be taken on how long they would be detained at Vatry,’’ said a source adding that a few Indians are from Tamil Nadu.
Interestingly, a partner company (which hasn't been identified) that chartered the aircraft from Legend Airlines (which also verified the documents of passengers and shared passport information with the airline 48 hours before departure) had charted many other flights for them on the same route (Dubai to Nicaragua) and it was incident free.
(With inputs from Associated Press)