Passengers assert that officials roughed them up for protesting flight delay at Ranchi airport; airline authorities rubbish claims

Delayed airline staff assaults passengers

Passengers assert that officials roughed them up for protesting flight delay at Ranchi airport; airline authorities rubbish claims

Passengers often complain of flight delays. However, this flight delay will surely not be forgotten as high drama broke out at Birsamunda Airport.

Passengers of a grounded Kingfisher flight alleged ill-treatment by airline officials.

The 170-odd agitated passengers on board Kingfisher flight IT 3571 returning to Mumbai from Ranchi, landed at Ranchi airport 4 pm, 30 minutes behind schedule, when its pilot sensed a snag, possibly caused by a bird-hit.

Trouble started around 8.30 pm when some passengers voiced their protest with the ground staff on duty.
A heated argument soon snowballed into a scuffle with ground staff of Kingfisher allegedly manhandling some passengers.

"I went with few other passengers to get some information from the Kingfisher management, when Arun Yadav, an attendant of Kingfisher along with three other people started threatening us and later on assaulted us," said Dr Ashok, one of the passengers.

It was reported that five passengers were beaten during the scuffle. One of the victims Ashok Tiwari, said, "Somehow I managed to get the number of the DGP of Jharkhand who asked one of his senior officers to reach the airport and this was how finally an FIR was registered against the staffers."

Tripathi Neeraj Kumar Babloo, a JD (U) MLA from Raghopur, Bihar, who was also on board the flight, claimed airline officials beat up passengers for demanding food and a place to spend the night.

"If the airline is saying that they have not misbehaved then this is the biggest lie, they should apologise to the passengers."

Other passengers also voiced the opinion that the Kingfisher staff was rude. Renu Sharan, another passenger, said, "Two members of my family fainted at the airport. We were not even provided with any medical assistance."

CISF personnel at Birsamunda airport confirmed the incident. "A heated argument broke out between Ashok Tiwari and Kingfisher staff Arun Yadav. We managed to cool off the situation and brought it under control," said a CISF officer.

All the passengers have lodged a complaint against Kingfisher ground staff in Ranchi at Dorunda police station.

The Other Side

Refuting the scuffle, Prakash Mirpuri, spokesperson, Kingfisher airlines, said, "We are a respected airline and we care for the convenience of guests. We extremely apologise for the cancellation of the flight because of technical reasons. However, we rubbish any such reports which says that our staff fought with our guests."

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