Mumbai Airport Tragedy: Air India Flyer Dies Due To Wheelchair Shortage; Cops Register Report As DGCA Issues Notice

Mumbai: The Sahar police on Friday filed an accidental death report regarding the death of an 80-year-old Air India, who suffered a heart attack while walking as he did not get a wheelchair. Issuing a notice, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had sought a report from the airlines on the incident in a week.

The elderly man was in the New York-Mumbai flight that was initially scheduled to land at 11.30am on Monday, but reached at 2.10pm. Despite booking wheelchair assistance for himself and his wife, he could get only one wheelchair owing to its “shortage”. Hence, he seated his wife and opted to walk till the immigration counter, nearly 1.5km away. However, he died mid-way.

Air India issues statement

In an official statement, Air India said, “Due to heavy demand for wheelchairs, we had requested the passenger to wait till he was also provided with wheelchair assistance but he opted to walk along with his spouse. As advised by the airport doctor, the passenger was immediately rushed to the hospital, where he was declared to have passed away.”