The Jet Airways flight to Jaipur had to turn back as the alarming symptoms became apparent, the airline said |
A cockpit
mix-up left more than 30 passengers on an Indian plane bleeding from their ears
and noses Thursday after the crew reportedly forgot to flick a switch
regulating cabin air pressure.
The Jet
Airways flight to Jaipur had to turn back due to loss in cabin pressure, the
airline said, with travellers describing "panic" on board.
The plane
carrying 166 passengers landed back in Mumbai and those affected were given
medical attention while alternative flights were arranged, Jet Airways said.
The flight
crew "has been taken off scheduled duties pending investigation", the
company said in a statement.
People on
board posted photos and videos of the calamity online, with one purported
passenger, Darshak Hathi, uploading footage on Twitter showing travellers using
oxygen masks.
"Panic
situation due to technical fault in @jetairways 9W 0697 going from Mumbai to
Jaipur," he tweeted, adding that all passengers were safe.
Another
traveller said the pilot did not make any announcement other than that the
flight would turn back to Mumbai.
"I was
in the business class and the oxygen mask came down suddenly. One passenger
came running from the back asking everyone to put on the masks," he told
the NDTV news network.
"All
the passengers were panicking, those sitting at the back and who were unable to
wear the masks started bleeding from their mouths and noses."
An official
with India's national aviation regulator told the Press Trust of India the crew
"forgot to select (the) bleed switch" to maintain the aircraft's
cabin pressure.
Five
travellers who suffered bleeding and were rushed to a Mumbai hospital were
suffering from mild deafness that would take some 10 days to recover, a doctor
told reporters.
The
incident is the latest in a string of embarrassing incidents for the airline,
which like other Indian carriers has been suffering financially.
In January,
two Jet Airways pilots were grounded for getting into a brawl and storming out
of the cockpit briefly during a New Year's Day flight from London to Mumbai.
In view of
the latest scare, India's Civil Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered a
safety audit of all airlines and airports, asking the report to be submitted
within 30 days.
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