Passengers refuse to board ‘stinking’ flight in Kolkata

Forget, for a moment, what it says about the respect shown by the authorities to jawans who lay down their lives for the country. Around 120...

Forget, for a moment, what it says about the respect shown by the authorities to jawans who lay down their lives for the country. Around 120 passengers refused to board a Dibrugarh-bound Indian Airlines flight at Kolkata airport today complaining of foul smell. While no one would officially confirm this, sources say the flight had in the morning carried bodies of five security personnel who were killed by extremists in Tripura recently, to their homes.

After the passengers walked out of the aircraft complaining of the stink, authorities had to transfer them into another plane. They left finally at around 3.30 pm, about three and a half hours behind schedule.

Indian Airlines, as a corporate policy, carries bodies of security personnel to their homes free of cost. According to an IA official, who refused to be named, ‘‘Bodies come in packed coffins in cargoholds separately, and usually steps are taken to see that they are properly disinfected. After the unloading is over, the area is cleaned up.’’ What happened this time, he says, is that one of the coffins developed cracks at the time of unloading. ‘‘However,’’ he adds, ‘‘our actions were swift. We took all measures to clean up the cargohold with proper disinfectant.’’

Of the five security personnel whose bodies were being taken home, one belonged to Patna, two to Lucknow, one to Delhi and one to West Bengal.