Several passengers on a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Jaipur on Thursday suffered nasal and ear bleeding after cabin pressure inside the aircraft dropped, a senior official said. The Boeing 737 aircraft returned to Mumbai safely.
"During climb, the crew forgot to select bleed switch due to which cabin pressurisation could not be maintained. As a result, oxygen masks got deployed," the official at aviation regulator DGCA said. In an initial statement, Jet Airways said it “regretted” the incident. According to some reports, the crew have been taken off duty pending inquiry.
"Out of 166 passengers on board, 30 passengers are affected... some have nose bleeding, few have ear bleeding and some are complaining of headache," he added. The official said all the affected passengers are being attended to by the doctors at the airport.
Some of the people who claimed to be on board Jet Airways flight 9W 697 took to Twitter to describe their experience, with many being critical of Jet Airways for not providing information and assistance after the flight landed.
One Twitter user, Darshak Hathi, claimed to be on the Jet Airways flight and uploaded a video of the oxygen masks being deployed. He added the aircraft, which took off by 5.50am, returned in 45 minutes. Another passenger, Satish Nair, claimed after the cabin pressure dropped, there were “no staff” to help and no instructions given when the oxygen masks deployed. Nair wrote passengers' safety was “completely ignored”.
Another Twitter user,Melissa Tixeira, posted a video of the purported aircraft after it landed. The video shows an airline employee asking that video recording not be done.
(With PTI inputs)
