A 53-year-old Indian worker in the UAE has missed a special repatriation flight after he dozed off at the Dubai International Airport, a media report said.
P Shajahan, who worked as a storekeeper in Abu Dhabi, was supposed to fly to Thiruvananthapuram on the Emirates jumbo jet chartered by the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) Dubai, Gulf News reported.
It was the first-ever jumbo jet chartered for repatriation.
Shajahan, who had paid 1,100 dirham (USD 300) for the ticket, said that he did not sleep on the previous night as he kept on waiting for the confirmation of his ticket for the jumbo jet flying 427 stranded Indians to Kerala, it said.
He reached the airport early in the morning and after finishing the check-in procedures and rapid test, he reached the waiting area of the boarding gate at Terminal 3 around 2 PM local time, the report said.
“I sat away from most of the others. But I fell asleep after 4.30 PM,” he said.
S Nizamudeen Kollam, who coordinated the charter flight, said that the airline officials could not trace Shajahan when the flight was to take off.
“He woke up and called us after the flight left. It is sad that he missed the flight, which was the first-ever jumbo jet chartered for repatriation. We are now trying to send him on another Emirates flight that we are chartering on Saturday,” Kollam said.
Since Shajahan did not have any money, Jasimkhan Kallambalam, organising secretary of KMCC Thiruvananthapuram, went to the airport to meet him on Friday.
“Since his visa was cancelled, he could not come out of the airport. He had only eaten the snacks in the kit KMCC had given. We managed to give him some cash for buying food through KMCC volunteer Alamsha Latheef,” Kallambalam said.
In March, another Indian expat had fallen asleep in the same terminal and missed the last flight home before flights were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was stranded here for over 50 days before getting repatriated.
Comments
Hey chaddi terrorist, stop spreading your chaddi cancer disease to karnataka state
We the Indians should be celebrating that axxxxxxes farewell to his permanent hell hole where delicious pork are cooked and served by 72 angels plus hoards of his harem collection.
Others say that Yediurappa earned a goodwill among the masses for celebrating Tipu Jayanthi when he was CM & same with Deve Gawda. These politicians change their stances to suit them. Tamil Nadu should celebrate rather Jayanti of Veerappan who was a true Tamlian nationalist. After kidnapping actor Rajkumar, veerappan demanded everything favoring TN. At that Time CM SM Krishna had almost agreed to Veerappans demands. Tipu will remain well addressed in the history for the good work done in Restoring temples & serving his subjects. Feku will be remembered in history for his expertise in riots.
This sidramya is proving himself as Pedramiah - He is suffering from the symptoms of political-termination !
@Sangeeth and all other cheddis... Why you people wants to create problems... If you are not interested then keep calm. Let them celebrate
Siddu wont learn.. previous year much problem created because of celebration. Why he wanted to celebrate
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