After 30 Jet flight passengers 'bleed', government orders safety audit plan
Mumbai, Sep 20 : At least 30 passengers of a Jet Airways flight suffered ear and nose bleeding due to low cabin pressure early on Thursday during the aircraft's ascent here, following which the government ordered a safety audit plan for airlines, officials said.
Jet Airways later said it has derostered the cockpit crew concerned, who will remain off duties pending investigation.
Several passengers on the Mumbai-Jaipur flight 9W-697 -- carrying 166 persons and five crew on board -- complained of severe headache and pain in the ears after the take-off around 6 a.m from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
The flight was forced to return soon after, a Jet Airways spokesperson said.
The ailing passengers were deboarded and rushed to the terminal building where they were administered first aid by doctors.
At least five male passengers, whose condition was worse, were taken to the Nanavati Hospital and kept under observation after undergoing various tests.
Hospital COO Rajendra Patankar told mediapersons that they were suffering from "mild conductive deafness", a temporary condition which would be cured within a week or so, and they were advised to refrain from flying till recovery.
Airport sources said the incident could be a result of the crew's alleged failure to activate what is called a "bleed switch" before the take-off, leading to disturbance in the cabin pressure and forcing use of oxygen masks.
Taking a serious note of the incident, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to prepare a comprehensive safety audit plan involving safety parameters on all airlines, airports, flying training schools, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility immediately.
He also directed that the safety audit must start forthwith and the report submitted to him within 30 days and corrective action taken immediately on deficiencies found during the audit, an official said.
Jet Airways said after the incident, all the remaining 144 passengers (out of 166), were accommodated in an alternative aircraft and took off for Jaipur this evening.
Of the remaining 22, 17 cancelled their flight plans on Thursday while the five passengers taken to Nanavati Hospital were allowed to go after various tests, an official spokesperson said.
Soon after the flight returned this morning, several angry passengers vented their ire via the social media and accused the airline of completely ignoring their plight.
"Panic situation due to technical fault in the flight. Flight returns to Mumbai after 45 minutes. All passengers are safe, including me," tweeted Darshak Hathi.
He claimed that after the take-off, the air-conditioning malfunctioned, after which the air pressure system too malfunctioned and oxygen masks dropped down.
Another passenger Amit Relan said that the flight was on the runway for 20 minutes without ventilation that led to suffocation, and "don't know if will make it".
Other passengers complained that they were forced to sit in the aircraft for long, with no breakfast and no information from the airline.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
