Passengers stranded on plane at Gatwick for 8 hours
17.10.11
Passengers were stranded on an Air India plane on the tarmac at Gatwick Airport for more than eight hours yesterday after fog caused their flight to be diverted. Sussex Police were called to the flight to prevent a breach of the peace as tempers among passengers flared.
The plane was travelling from Mumbai to Heathrow Airport when the weather conditions forced it to divert to Gatwick at about 08:00. It only resumed its journey at 17:00, arriving at Heathrow 20 minutes later.
A spokesman for Gatwick said the airline had to wait for a replacement crew before the flight could complete its journey, because those on board were over their flying time limit.
A BBC World Service reporter on board said he did not know why the passengers were prevented from disembarking the aircraft. Air India was unavailable for comment.
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