NEW DELHI: The family of a passenger injured during the Air India Phuket-Delhi turbulence incident has alleged that there was little emergency preparedness after the aircraft landed in Delhi, claiming there were no ambulances on standby, no senior airline officials present and inadequate coordination despite several passengers requiring medical attention.The family also described the turbulence as one of the most frightening experiences they had ever faced, saying passengers were thrown from their seats while cabin crew and even the pilot appeared visibly shaken during the mid-air incident.Speaking to ANI, Shrikant Jha, son-in-law of one of the injured passengers, criticised Air India and airport authorities over what he described as the absence of a coordinated emergency response.“We had boarded the Air India flight, and about an hour and a half or two hours into the journey, there was a sudden disturbance lasting maybe ten seconds, followed by a sharp drop in altitude. My mother-in-law suffered a severe injury from the armrest, she ended up with fractured ribs. Many people were injured,” he said.Questioning the arrangements after landing, Jha added, “The biggest issue was the lack of proper coordination; neither the airport authorities nor Air India had made any arrangements. It doesn’t seem like any such information was relayed, because the staff on the ground appeared completely clueless. There was no senior Air India staff present, nor any senior airport staff.”He said emergency protocols should have ensured ambulances and medical teams were waiting on the ground.“Normally, in an emergency like this, if the pilot informs ground control about the problem, ambulances should be pre-arranged, and doctors should be on standby. There should have been people there to assist. There wasn’t even an arrangement for water. We aren’t aviation experts; we can’t say whether it was pilot negligence or a natural cause. It could be anything; most likely, it was a natural cause.”Palak Raniwala, daughter of the injured passenger, recalled the terrifying moments inside the cabin, saying the turbulence was so severe that her father was thrown upwards and struck the aircraft’s ceiling, while her mother suffered fractured ribs.“It was a traumatic experience. My father was sitting next to me, and when this happened, his head touched the ceiling. It was a terrifying experience for all of us. It’s not that sudden drops haven’t happened before; they might have occurred on other airlines, but never before had a pilot warned us beforehand about what to do or not do, or mentioned potential issues. The flight attendants were panicking, and the pilot himself seemed rattled, you could hear the nervousness in his voice. The whole situation left us terrified. My mother also suffered rib fractures,” she said.Air India flight AI2379 , operating from Phuket to Delhi on Tuesday, experienced a sudden loss of altitude during cruise before landing safely in Delhi.The Airbus A320neo was carrying 137 passengers and eight crew members.The airline said 13 passengers and four crew members sustained injuries and were taken to hospital for medical evaluation.As of 6.50 pm on August 4, five passengers had been discharged while the remaining injured continued to receive treatment.The DGCA has launched a probe into the incident, while Air India said it is cooperating with the investigation and providing assistance to those affected.(With ANI inputs)
