Saudi flight grounded for more than 24 hours

Over 270 passengers of a Mumbai-Jeddah Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV-744 have been stranded at the Mumbai Airport for over 24 hours.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 8 am on Monday morning from Chhatrapati Shivaji International terminal but as soon as it came onto the runway for take-off it reported a technical snag, said a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) official.

The MIAL official added, "All the passengers aboard SV-744 have been grounded since Monday and they have been shifted to a hotel by the airlines."

The ground staff of Saudi Arabian airlines told MiD DAY that a team of experts were flown down to Mumbai to work on the grounded aircraft.

The flight finally departed around 6 pm last evening.

Rescuing the stranded
Meanwhile, the national carrier, Air India, is ready to evacuate all Indians from Yemen following the recent spate of violence.

AI sources confirmed that the union government, in a high-level meeting in the Capital, asked the national carrier to rescue all Indians from Yemen.

"We have kept two Boeing 777 and 747s on standby for the rescue operations. We are awaiting further orders
to depart for Yemen," said an AI official.

Thousands of anti-government supporters in Sanaa have come out on the streets that has led to a war-like situation in Yemen, which has also resulted in hundreds of casualties.