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The airline said the passengers, who are still inside the landed plane, were given refreshments and an alternate crew to fly them back to Guwahati is being arranged.
"IndiGo flight 6E 5319 from Mumbai to Guwahati was diverted to Dhaka, Bangladesh due to bad weather in Guwahati. Due to operational reasons, an alternate set of crew is being arranged to operate the flight from Dhaka to Guwahati. The passengers were kept informed of updates and were served with refreshments on board. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused," IndiGo said in a statement.
Several passengers took to social media to share their frustration over the long wait after the abrupt diversion. In a post on X, former Mumbai Youth Congress chief Suraj Singh Thakur, on his way to join Congress's Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra in Imphal, said the passengers were stuck on the flight for hours.
I took @IndiGo6E flight 6E 5319 from Mumbai to Guwahati. But due to dense fog, the flight couldn't land in Guwahati. Instead, it landed in Dhaka. Now all the passengers are in Bangladesh without their passports, we are inside the plane.✈️
— Suraj Singh Thakur (@SurajThakurINC) January 13, 2024
"I took IndiGo6E flight 6E 5319 from Mumbai to Guwahati. But due to dense fog, the flight couldn't land in Guwahati. Instead, it landed in Dhaka," he wrote, adding that all passengers onboard the flight had crossed the international border without their passports.
The passengers have been inside the plane for nine hours, Mr Thakur said.
Another flier, in a post on X, said the 178 passengers had been waiting for over four hours for another crew to fly them back to their destination.
"IndiGo6E stuck inside aircraft with 178 passengers for 9 hours now, flying 6E 5319 from Mumbai to Guwahati. We made a landing in Dhaka around 4am because of lower visibility in the North East. We have been waiting for another crew for 4 hours now, can we please expedite?," he wrote.
Hi, we truly regret the inconvenience caused to you. The flight was diverted due to bad weather which is beyond our control too. Our team is working to assist the passengers to the best of their capabilities. We sincerely look forward to your understanding. ~Ravi
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) January 13, 2024
The airline responded to the post saying the flight was diverted due to bad weather but did not specify when the flight will leave the Bangladesh capital.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the IndiGo flight was scheduled to take off from Mumbai at 8.20 pm on Friday and land in Guwahati at 11.10 pm. But the flight departed from Mumbai at around 11.20 pm, after a delay of three hours.