30 flights cancelled at Mumbai airport, 118 delayed
Mumbai, Sep 5: Flight operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) here were affected for the second day with cancellation of 30 flights and another 118 getting delayed on Thursday.
As per a live flight-tracking website, 14 incoming and 16 outbound flights were cancelled on Thursday. In addition, 118 flights were delayed, including 86 departure.
In a brief statement, Mumbai International Airport Airport Ltd (MIAL) said that "operations are normal".
"IndiGo has reported cancellations. Please contact the airlines for further information," it added.
IndiGo suspended operations due to paucity of manpower on Wednesday night, a source said.
The airline said in a statement Thursday morning that operations had resumed as per the schedule.
"There are few cancellations to stabilize the operations. Therefore, we request the passengers to check the status of their flight before proceeding for the airport...All affected passengers are being accommodated on alternate flights," it said.
The operations at the country's second busiest airport had witnessed heavy disruptions on Wednesday as rains crippled the city.
Around 20 flights, most of them of IndiGo, were cancelled on Wednesday and 455 flights were delayed due to the incessant rain.
With local train services slowing down or coming to a standstill and traffic snarls on major roads, airline and airport staff were unable to reach the workplace, resulting in delays and cancellations on Wednesday and its spill-over effect continued on Thursday as well, sources said.
"My IndiGo flight was scheduled to take off for Jaipur at 7.55 pm Wednesday night. It took off at 6 am today and landed in Jaipur at 8 am. I boarded the flight around midnight but all passengers remained seated in the aircraft till departure this morning," a passenger told PTI.
"There was no dinner. Passengers came onto the tarmac and created a ruckus. Someone even called CISF (Central Industrial Security Force)," he added.
The Mumbai airport handles around 1,000 flight arrivals and departures per day.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
