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28 March 2024

Couple stuck in lift delays Sharjah flight

Published
By Joseph George

An Air Arabia flight from the South Indian state of Kerala to Sharjah over the weekend was delayed by about half-an-hour as two passengers were stuck in the airport lift.

An elderly couple - Narayanan Ravindran and his wife Sajini - were the unfortunate victims of the 'callousness of Trivandrum airport staff'.

The couple completed their immigration check at about 12.40am on Saturday at the newly-opened International Terminal and proceeded to the second floor but was stuck inside the lift.

An hour later, the technical staff at the airport still could not rescue the couple. So Ravindran himself had to call fireforce to help. However, the airport security refused to let the fireforce personnel from entering the airport asking them to first get the approval. So the local police had to intervene.

Once the fireforce personnell were let in, airport officials would not let them break open the glass door, said one official present at the scene. 

However, pressure from co-passengers and the fear of delaying the flight further forced the airport staff to let the personnel break open the door and free the couple.

Air Arabia confirmed the incident and said the flight that was originally scheduled to depart at 3.40am was delayed by about half an hour.

Officials at Trivandrum Airport were, however, not willing to give further details.

Ravindran was quoted by local media as saying, "the attitude of the staff who were absolutely unapologetic and did not even bother to get a regular health check following the incident, was a clear indication of the state of affairs".