Passengers hurt after Jet Airways flight loses cabin pressure

Flight 9W 697 carrying 166 passengers landed back in Mumbai after passengers complained of ear pain and nose bleeding.

Jet Airways
A Jet Airways flight returned to Mumbai after dozens of passengers complained of ear pain and nose bleeding [File:Nicolas Economou/ Getty Images]

A Jet Airways flight returned to Mumbai, India, when 30 passengers complained of ear pain and nose-bleeding after the plane lost cabin pressure.

Shortly after takeoff, the flight crew forgot to switch on the cabin pressure system and oxygen masks were deployed, according to India’s civil aviation regulator.

Flight 9W 697, a Boeing 737 aircraft, was carrying 166 passengers when the incident took place.

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.

“The airline is making alternative flight arrangements for guests on its flight,” the statement added. 

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.

Satish Nair also posted a picture and complained that passengers were not kept informed during the ordeal.

India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a tweet it had sought an “immediate report” from official agencies.

It is the latest in a string of embarrassing incidents for the airline.

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.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies