Air India has been fined Rs 30 lakh after a 80-year-old passenger died at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport while walking from the plane to the terminal as he was not provided a wheelchair. The incident took place on February 16.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took swift action, issuing a show-cause notice to Air India, demanding a response within seven days. After reveiwing the response, the regulator found Air India guilty and imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh.

The airline said that the passenger’s wife had been provided a wheelchair and staff had asked him to wait while they arranged another one. But he instead chose to walk to the terminal with his wife.

“One of our guests flying from New York to Mumbai on 12th February fell ill while proceeding to clear immigration with his wife, who was in a wheelchair. Due to heavy demand for wheelchairs, we had requested the passenger to wait till he was also provided with wheelchair assistance but he opted to walk along with his spouse,” Air India said.

Upon examination, DGCA found that Air India had not complied with the norms which specifically addresses the “Carriage by Air – Persons with Disability (Divyangjan) and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility.” This failure to adhere to the regulations outlined in Aircraft Rules, 1937, prompted the fine on the airline.

The DGCA has also issued an advisory to all airlines stressing the need to ensure an adequate number of wheelchairs for passengers requiring assistance during embarking or disembarking from the aircraft.

The cast announcement video for the upcoming series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, based on true events depicting the longest hijack in Indian history, is out. The show marks the OTT debut of Anubhav Sinha, best known for films like Thappad and Article 15.

The series explores the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 on December 24, 1999, en route from Kathmandu to Delhi. Five masked gunmen took control of the Airbus, diverting it to several locations, including Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai, before landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan. This event left 188 passengers stranded inside the plane for seven days, sometimes on the ground and other times at 30,000 feet.

The star-studded cast includes Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy, Manoj Pahwa, Dia Mirza, Amrita Puri, Patralekha, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Anupam Tripathi, Pooja Gor, Aditya Shrivatav, Kanwaljit Singh, Sushant Singh, and Yashpal Sharma.

The recently released cast announcement video sets the stage for the series, showcasing the resilience, mayhem, skill, and tact involved in the mission to rescue the passengers. The logline reads, ” On 24 December 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC 814, en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi, was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Taliban-governed Afghanistan. The hijack lasted seven days; while passengers and crew suffered, some great officers back home struggled to answer the ‘who’ and ‘why’ – answers that were beyond the obvious and extremely complex. But the people had to be brought back home safely. The clock was ticking as the negotiations forged through; this is the story of those seven days which became the longest hijack in Indian history.”

The filming of the series is set to commence soon, promising a gripping narrative of the harrowing events surrounding the Kandahar hijacking.

The much-awaited trailer of Yodha starring Sidharth Malhotra, Raashii Khanna and Disha Patani is out now.

Check it out here:

The trailer begins with Sidharth Malhotra who dreams of becoming a soldier like his father. Then he is seen on many missions fighting terrorists. He is also suspended for a case. We then see an Indian plane going from Pakistan getting hijacked with Sidharth onboard.

The trailer also gives us glimpses of Raashii Khanna who plays Sidharth’s love interest while Disha Patani is an air hostess in the hijacked flight.

Directed by Pushkar Ojha and Sagar Ambre, Yodha is jointly produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, and Shashank Khaitan. The film is slated to hit the cinemas on March 15, 2024.

See Also: Yodha teaser: Sidharth Malhotra is a brave commando trying to save passengers in a hijacked plane