VISAKHAPATNAM: In all, 186 passengers had a harrowing time after their Kolkata-bound flight from Mumbai was diverted to Visakhapatnam around Friday midnight. They were forced to spend more than 18 hours in Visakhapatnam before a special flight was flown in here Saturday evening to transport them safely to Kolkata. The SpiceJet flight (SG 487) took off from Mumbai at 7.45 pm Friday and was scheduled to land in Kolkata at 10.20 pm. However, the pilots were reportedly forced to divert the flight to Visakhapatnam due to bad weather in Kolkata. The passengers were offloaded at the Visakhapatnam airport at around 11.30 pm and were informed about the inclement weather before offering to fly them back to Mumbai.
However, all the passengers informed the flight operator that they were not willing to go back to Mumbai and wanted that they be shifted to Kolkata. “We were accommodated in a city hotel by promising that a special flight was being deployed from Calicut and we will be flown to Kolkata by 11 am Saturday,” said a passenger
However, the special flight did not arrive in Vizag due to technical problems. “Upon receiving information, we intervened and explained the situation to the Calicut airport authorities who in turn responded positively and made arrangements for the flight to take off. The special flight arrived in Vizag at around 6 pm and passengers left for Kolkata by 7 pm,” Visakhapatnam airport director Vinod Sharma told Express. Passengers who waited for more than seven hours in airport, entered into an argument with the SpiceJet staff, Saturday. Later, airport authorities intervened and pacified the passengers.