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As many as 158 passengers who boarded a Dhaka-bound flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines from Kolkata on Monday night, had a traumatic experience for nearly four hours with no air-conditioning and inadequate food supplies.
The flight was scheduled to take off for Dhaka from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata around 9.05 pm on Monday and the passengers got on the aircraft some 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure.
However, the flight could not take off due to a problem with the landing gear, Tahera Khandaker, general manager for public relations at Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told UNB on Tuesday.
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"As per Biman's safety regulations, power has to be cut off while fixing any technical problem. That was why the air-conditioning system of the aircraft had to be switched off and several passengers on board felt uneasiness," she said.
"Besides, the passengers were not allowed to exit the aircraft as per Kolkata airport rules," Tahera explained.
It took engineers around three hours to fix the technical glitch, following which the flight took off and reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka around 1.42 am (local time) on Tuesday, said the official.