Women forced to sit on floor at airport

A Saudi family consisting of several women and children were forced to sit on the floor at a local airport for nearly nine hours to wait for their delayed flight, prompting aviation authorities to order an investigation into the incident.

One of the women captured this on her mobile phone showing the group squatting on the floor although all seats were empty in the lobby of the airport in the Western port of Yanbu.

The film, posted on YouTube and published by the Saudi daily Ajel, showed the woman shouting at the man in charge and asked him why they would not let them sit in the lobby.

He replied that they have received instructions from the management on the grounds the airport was waiting for an international flight to land.

The woman said in the film that they were flying to the nearby port of Jeddah but the flight was delayed by almost nine hours.

"As you see, they are not allowing us to sit on the seats although there is no one inside the lobby...they forced us to sit on the floor with our children for nine hours just because they are expecting an international flight," she said.

Ajel said the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority ordered an immediate probe into the incident after seeing the film. "The Authority also instructed the management at Yanbu Airport to take measures to prevent similar incidents in the future," it said.

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