Kolkata, December 13: Relatives of Haj pilgrims on board an Indian Airlines Jedda-Kolkata flight yesterday held protests at the N S C Bose International Airport as the flight had to be diverted to Mumbai due to fog conditions.
Airport sources said the Boeing 747, which had to be diverted to Mumbai at around 7:30 am, finally landed here after 11 hours as the pilots of the morning flight had to be relieved from duty after the stipulated hours as per standard aviation procedures of giving mandatory rest to the crew.
However, angry over the continued delay, about 1000 relatives of the pilgrims, waiting before the international terminal, began protest at the entrance, leading to inconvenience to the passengers.
The demonstrators were pacified after airport officials intervened and explained the reason behind the delay and the plane reached the airport at 6:30 pm.
–PTI