Monday , December 9 2024

An 80-year-old man, who had to walk due to lack of a wheelchair, died at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: On February 12, an 80-year-old Indian-origin economy class passenger traveling from New York to Mumbai on Air India flight AI-116 suffered a heart attack at the immigration counter when he was forced to walk one and a half kilometres. Despite having a wheelchair pre-booked on the flight, the plane was taken to the immigration counter, resulting in his death in the presence of his wife. Recently, the Civil Aviation Department of the Central Government had ordered to create war rooms at six metro airports of the country, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai to assist the passengers, but this incident shows that the government seems to be That the announcement has not yet been implemented and passengers are suffering from faulty services of the airlines.

An 80-year-old man and his wife had booked a wheelchair before traveling in economy class on an Air India flight from New York to Mumbai on Sunday. The flight was to reach Mumbai at 11.30 am on Monday but it landed at 2.10 pm. According to sources, 32 passengers on this flight had requested for wheelchair facility, but only fifteen wheelchairs were made available at the airport to assist them.

An Air India spokesperson issued a statement on the matter on Friday, February 16, clarifying that due to high demand for wheelchairs, we asked the passenger to wait until the wheelchair became available, but he chose to travel with his wife. Opted for. An assistant came with a wheelchair. After which the wife chose to sit on a wheelchair and the husband chose to walk with her. The passenger walked one and a half kilometers to reach the immigration counter. After this the 80 year old tourist collapsed at the immigration counter due to a heart attack. The passenger was taken to Mumbai Airport Medical Facility. From there, as per the doctor's advice, he was immediately taken to the hospital, but he could not be saved.

Air India described the incident as unfortunate and said that we are in constant touch with the bereaved family and are providing necessary assistance.

It is worth noting that recently, while announcing the facility of a special help desk for passengers troubled by several incidents of flight delays, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that we will make arrangements to submit reports six to three times a day. Regarding various incidents at metro airports of the country. Compliance with the instructions of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Standard Operating Procedures for Civil Aviation will be monitored and reported regularly. The manpower required for this special unit will be provided by the Central Industrial Security Force so that it can remain operational round the clock.