Gulf expat stranded mid-air… misses mother’s funeral

An emotionally distraught RAK airways passenger broke down after failing to see his dead mother one last time due to a 15-hour flight delay.
 
He was among the 140 passengers from UAE, Saudi and Qatar travelling to Kozhikode in Kerala, India from Ras Al Khaimah on October 22.
 
The RT 300 flight was originally scheduled to take off at 9.30pm on Monday, but was delayed for several hours due to technical fault followed due to non-availability of crew.
 
Mustafa Arib, who works in Doha was a heartbroken man after he missed his mother’s funeral because of the delay.
 
“Both me and my brother were on our way home from Doha for the funeral. I took this flight so that I could reach home two hours in advance. My brother who boarded an Air India flight surprisingly managed to reach home on time and attend the funeral that was scheduled at 8am the on Tuesday morning. I am really heartbroken. I wanted to see her face one last time,” said Arib who has been employed in Doha for the past 20 years.
 
Passengers, many of who were on transit from Doha and Jeddah said they were given different versions about what caused the delay.
 
"We were first told that the flight has been delayed because of Air Traffic issues. Then we were told that the delay is due to a technical problem. We were then told that the problem has been rectified. Just when we were expecting the flight to take off, we were all told to disembark from the flight at around 3am. We were then told that the aircraft crew had completed their duty time and a new crew would fly us to our destination,” said Adil.
 
“Some of the passengers, especially those from Saudi Arabia have been out of their home since 10am on Monday,” he added.

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