More than 250 passengers on a London-Mumbai Virgin Atlantic flight, many of them Indians, are stuck in Turkey’s Diyarbakir airport for over 40 hours now. An airline spokesperson has said the VS358 flight from London to Mumbai on 2nd April was cancelled due to an “urgent medical diversion” to Diyarbakir airport. After landing, the aircraft suffered a technical issue and is being inspected.
“The safety and security of our customers and crew remains our highest priority, and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. Subject to receiving the necessary technical approvals, we will continue flight VS1358 to Mumbai from Diyarbakir Airport at 12:00 local time on Friday 4th April,” the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said.
“If approvals are not received, we plan instead to provide a bus transfer for customers to an alternative aircraft at another Turkish airport tomorrow to complete our customers’ journey to Mumbai,” the airline said. “In the meantime, passengers are being provided with overnight hotel accommodation and refreshments in Turkey, while we work towards a resolution, and we will keep all customers informed as soon as new updates become available,” Virgin Atlantic said.
My family along with 250+ passengers have been inhumanely treated by @virginatlantic .
Why is this chaos not being covered in the @BBCWorld or global media?? Over 30 hours confined at a military airport in Turkey.
In contact with the @ukinturkiye to please more pressure needed pic.twitter.com/TIIHgE07bb— Hanuman Dass (@HanumanDassGD) April 3, 2025
Stranded passengers and their family members have taken to social media to flag issues they are facing. Many complained of a single toilet for the 300-odd passengers as they waited at the airport. A passenger told news agency PTI that the passengers had not been provided blankets to brave the single-digit temperatures. Visuals showed passengers resting on airport seats, visibly harrowed by the delay and uncertainty after the disruption.
Hi @VishnuNDTV , we’re sincerely sorry for the disruption experienced due to the urgent medical diversion. Our customers are now in overnight hotel accommodation in Turkey, while we work towards a resolution tomorrow so they can continue their journey to Mumbai. We’ll keep all…
— virginatlantic (@VirginAtlantic) April 3, 2025
Responding to an NDTV query on the current status of passengers, a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson responded that the customers have been put up at hotels and the airline is working towards a resolution.
The Indian Embassy in Ankara has said it is monitoring the situation.