Sharjah: An Air India flight from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala was delayed for more than 22 hours Friday after a crew member claimed to have seen a rat on board.
Keeping with safety protocols, a complete inspection of flight AI 968 was carried out, but officials failed to locate any evidence of a rodent.
The flight carrying over 170 passengers was scheduled to depart from Sharjah at 12.05am and reach Thiruvananthapuram at 5.40am.
Sashank, a passenger scheduled to fly to Thiruvananthapuram tweeted:
@airindiain #Flightdelay I don’t know what’s happening here😒Air India flight from Sharjah to trivendrum suppose to be a takeoff on 29th midnight but, till now nothing! No proper response from air India. Please take action immediately almost 12 hours delay😢😳 pic.twitter.com/VDeaQ2P8fS
— Shashank (@shash_me) March 30, 2018
The flight was expected to depart at 10.15pm and later notified as cancelled by a flight tracking service.
A spokesperson from Air India confirmed to Gulf News that flight AI 968 was being prepared for departure when the rodent incident happened.
“Rats onboard an aircraft can lead to a catastrophe if they start chewing electric wires,” a senior commander said.
