Elderly, paralysed cancer patient stranded at Mumbai airport for three hours

Representational pic

In a shocking incident of apathy, an 80-year-old cancer survivor, who is paralysed hip downwards, was left unattended for three hours at Mumbai airport

According to a report in Times of India, the elderly woman was on her way from London to Kolkata. Apparently, the Air India ground staff were passing the buck until her family members in Kolkata contacted senior AI officials.

The report added that post the family intervention an airline staff escorted the passenger travelling alone on the trip to Kolkata. That's not all. The staff checked her into a hotel and even put her on a flight later. The report claimed that the woman reached Kolkata 14 hours after she was due to arrive.

Mohini Chandiramani landed in Mumbai at 4 am from where she was to head to to Kolkata, on Wednesday morning. She had a connecting AI flight to Kolkata at 6.10 am but missed it after a delay at the Customs, the report claimed. She was told that she would be put up on an evening flight, but the airline staff then disappeared. The woman managed to get in touch with her relatives with the help of a passenger from another flight.

Chandiramani's nephew Kushal Sengupta told the paper, "The airline's domestic manager at Mumbai airport refused help and in fact asked us to tell my aunt to come to his desk to report despite us telling him repeatedly that she is immobile and has no phone on her to even inform us of her whereabouts."

Hitting out at the airline officials, Sengupta added, No one even had the courtesy to ask her if she needed help or offer her a phone to call us. A wheel-chair bound passenger is usually speedily cleared but in this case, she was delayed so much that they could not wheel into the flight to Kolkata on time."

The airline, however, denied allegations of negligence, and told the paper that they had gone out of the way to accommodate the passenger.