No food or water for the first three hours, vegetarian food an issue: Air India fliers stranded in Russia
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New Delhi: Passengers on the Delhi-San Francisco Air India flight that was diverted to Russia's remote town of Magadan said that the first day was "extremely hard". They are currently stranded in Russia and the local authorities have been helpful.
Speaking to NDTV, two passengers - Girvaan Singh and his young brother, Jaivant - said that they were not given food or water for the first two-three hours. They added there are very few options for vegetarian food. A woman in her nineties only has enough medication for two days. They are hoping things will improve on the second day as the authorities have been keen to help.
"So, for the first day, it was extremely hard for all of us. The weather was harsh and cold, and it was extremely windy. I was in half-sleeves and shorts. When we reached the hotel room, we had no food or water for two to three hours, and we got water around 3 am in the morning," said Girvaan.
"The problem was that a lot of people are vegetarians and Magadan being a city next to the harbour, we don't have many options for vegetarian food here. They have been having bread and milk for breakfast and some soup. Luckily our batch, our bus, was taken to the women's hostel in Magadan. So we were the lucky ones... I saw some videos that 10 or 30 of them are sleeping in one classroom, which looks very uncomfortable," he added.
He also told NDTV that the language barrier is a problem and authorities have allotted a translator.
The Air India flight AI173 was carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members. It was diverted to Magadan on Tuesday due to a mid-air glitch in an engine. The airline said that a replacement flight will take all stranded people to San Francisco.
