18 hours and counting: BA Mumbai-London flyers stuck in Baku since Monday night

NEW DELHI: In a harrowing experience, passengers who took British Airways flight BA 198 from Mumbai to London on Monday have been stuck in Baku for over 18 hours. The aircraft was diverted there on Monday night developing a snag. A passenger on BA 198 tweeted that there was smoke in the first class cabin. So what should have been a nine-hour journey has already become over a day-long one and the passengers are yet to take off for their destination from Baku.

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A BA spokesperson said: "We fully appreciate how frustrating this experience has been, and have apologised to our customers for the very long delay to their flight. We provided refreshments, and did our best to make sure our customers were comfortable overnight during the delay, and the flight will depart this afternoon. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our priority." BA did not give the number of passengers on this flight.

In such cases where diverted planes take a long time to be repaired, airlines send a ferry aircraft to fly stranded passengers to their destination. Something that BA did not say why it didn't do for the 198 flyers.

The passenegers' ordeal had begun on Monday afternoon. The flight's schedule departure time was 1.15 pm. But due to heavy snowfall in London, it's departure was delayed to after 5 pm. Then after flying for a few hours, it had to be diverted to Baku.

Soon after the diversion, BA had on Monday night said: "We apologise to our customers for the delay to their travels following a suspected technical issue with a flight from Mumbai to London. Engineers in Baku are checking the aircraft and we are awaiting more information about the situation."