A Qatar Airways flight bound for Doha from Delhi was diverted to Karachi Airport in Pakistan due to ‘technical reasons’ on Monday. The flight, numbered QR579, was carrying over a 100 passengers, and was met by emergency services upon its landing in Karachi, the airline said in a statement.
Qatar Airways said the flight was diverted due to indication of smoke in the cargo hold. The incident is ‘currently under investigation’ and a relief flight is being arranged to take the passengers to Doha, it said.
Passengers from the flight told News18 that they had received no information about the diversion when it landed in Karachi and that they were ‘left without food and water’.
Waiting in the terminal building, the passengers also complained that there was no representative of the airline present to assist them.
A passenger on the flight described the experience to Moneycontrol. Vikrum Pasricha, his wife, and their one-year-old daughter were travelling from Delhi to Doha. He said the flight arrived in Karachi around 5:30 a.m. on Monday. The passengers were asked to disembark and were directed to the transit lounge at Jinnah International Airport.
“No water, food, information for three hours. Only after passengers raised it with airport staff, was food, chai water provided. Senior citizens, infants on this flight. No food, water, information available at will,” he told Moneycontrol in a text message.
He also stated that passengers were not provided with free WiFi services to communicate with family members back home. “Only local PAK numbers can connect to WiFi. Passengers are unable to communicate, obtain or provide information,” he said.
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