In an excruciating experience, the SpiceJet passengers on Wednesday left inside the plane for an hour without air conditioning amid the ongoing heatwave. The ordeal was shared in a video from inside the flight where passengers were seen whirling magazines to evade the heat.
The SpiceJet flight SG 476 was travelling from Delhi to Darbhanga when the incident happened before take off. Due to the suffocating heat inside the aircraft, some of the passengers started feeling unwell.
Speaking of the ordeal, a passenger named Rohan Kumar said that the aircraft crew switched on the AC after an hour of check-in, when they took off.
He said, "I was travelling from Delhi to Darbhanga (SG 476) from SpiceJet. At the Delhi airport after the check-in, they did not switch on the air-conditioning (AC) for an hour. The temperature inside (flight) was 40 degrees. The passengers were suffering. The air-conditioner (AC) was switched on when the flight took off..."
Similar incident reported weeks ago
A similar incident was reported a couple of weeks ago on a San Fransisco-bound flight in Delhi. On May 30, Air India Flight AI 183 was delayed by at least 20 hours to the anguish of flyers. After flyers boarded the plane, they were told that the flight was delayed by eight hours. The passengers were kept without AC for those eight hours amid the scorching heat that has gripped Delhi, as a result of which some of them fainted.
It was only after the passengers expressed anguish, that they were deplaned from the Air India flight and were reportedly given accommodations till it was ready for takeoff on the next day.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet has issued a media statement over the incident. It was said that the AC was not working for over an hour on a flight scheduled to travel from Delhi to Darbhanga.
Heatwave conditions in Delhi
Notably, Delhi is currently facing the wrath of intense heatwaves, with temperature rising to 47 degrees Celcius on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the IMD also issued a Red Alert for the national capital on June 18.
