'What about 185 passengers stranded without food for hours': Co-passengers on IndiGo Delhi-Goa flight on video of pilot getting hit

Two passengers, who were onboard the Delhi-Goa IndiGo 6E2175 flight where a passenger slapped a pilot after a 10-hour delay, have shared many details around the incident. They pointed out mismanagement on part of the airline and that passengers on the plane were not even offered food and water.

The passenger on the 6E2175 IndiGo flight, identified as Sahil Kataria, was arrested and later granted bail after he assaulted a pilot over an announcement regarding a delay in the flight's takeoff at the Delhi airport. A video of the incident went viral on social media.

Sanal Vij, one of the passengers on the flight, said on X (formerly Twitter) that while he does not condone violence, the airline "took advantage and hid all their mismanagement and mistakes in lieu of what the passenger did."

He said in a note posted on X that the flight was scheduled for take off at 07:40 am but was able to depart only by 05:35 pm due to multiple delays. He also noted that the airline opened the boarding at around 12:20 pm after a delay of five hours due to bad weather with 186 passengers, including infants, children and the elderly.

Vij also alleged that despite the completion of boarding by 12:40 pm, the flight doors were not closed until 02:50 pm, with the ground staff telling the passengers that the Air Traffic Control (ATC) did not clear the take-off soon due to congestion.

He further claimed that ground staff and crew members provided misinformation as crew members were observed engaging in lengthy conversations with the ground staff.

"Multiple requests from elderly passengers for water were ignored. As they were busy in their own conversations, the delayed crew member arrived at 02:40 pm (approx), and the plane doors closed. However, the plane did not push back for sometime, leading to passenger inquiries and a verbal altercation with crew members," he further said while recounting the ordeal.

He said in his letter: "Violence is unacceptable, but what about IndiGo's mismanagement, unprofessionalism, and 185 passengers stranded without food for hours? The food was provided to us after 04:00 pm after being locked in the plane for several hours."

"The incident rakises qustions about the handling of the situation by IndiGo. Shouldn't authorities investigate the unprofessional conduct and ensure such mismanagement doesn't recur?" he said towards the end of his note.

Moreover, Russian model Evgenia Belskia, who shared the video of the incident on Instagram, told India Today in an exclusive conversation that the incident could have been avoided had the airline staff had been nice. She further said that while she does not support violence, everyone was frustrated on the flight. "He (the accused) was not a bad guy. I am not saying violence is right, but everyone was frustrated on the flight," she told India Today TV.

She further said that while co-pilot who got hit was blaming the passengers who were asking questions for the missing a turn to fly out. Belskia further added that people had to wait inside the aircraft for four hours and it was a 10-12 hour delay in total. She added that her team was not offered food or water unless the police arrived to detain the passenger that the airline provided passengers with water.

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