Saudia strands 300 passengers at Dammam airport for 17 hours

Dammam: A technical problem on an India-bound Saudia flight and a lack of attention on the airline’s part led to the stranding of 300 passengers for more than 17 hours with scant water and food at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight SV771 originated in Jeddah and made a scheduled stop to pick up more passengers in Dammam before heading to Chennai in India.
After pulling out on the tarmac at 12:45 a.m. Thursday, the plane sat for about two hours before cabin crew announced the passengers would be offloaded so the aircraft could be repaired. A lack of communication between technicians and airline staff led to the passengers being crowded into a waiting area where they were forced to languor with little water and no food until 8 a.m. when they were served a piece of bread.
An airline spokesman said the passengers remained sequestered because they did not want to have the passengers go through immigration a second and third time and that the nearest hotels were many kilometers away from the remote airport.
Among the passengers were women with infant children; they were forced to starve and thirst along with the rest of the castaways.
11/06/11 Arab News

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Categories: Airports Jun 2011, Foreign Jun 2011