As if they were in a sauna, passengers who complain that they stayed for three hours inside a plane that would perform the Athens-Doha flight must have felt.
The incident took place on Monday amid a heatwave that forced some passengers to take off their clothes, while others ended up "passing out" as the aircraft was stuck on the airport's tarmac and the temperature reached 38 degrees, it said. The Sun.
The passengers, including dozens of athletes competing in the IFMA World Muaythai Championships, claim they were left on the Qatar Airways flight without air conditioning. Reports are of a technical failure in the plane's air conditioning system as it prepared to depart for the Middle East. Wanting to emphasize the conditions that prevailed that day in Greece, the publication points out that an Emergency Weather Bulletin had already been issued due to the heatwave, which stated that very warm air masses would cause very high temperatures in the country until Friday.
In videos that have seen the light of day, many of the passengers can be seen taking off their clothes, while their bodies are covered in sweat. Eventually, passengers were allowed to deplane and return to the Athens International Airport terminal building to await further instructions.
"Qatar Airways is miserably handling the situation with flight QR204 from Athens to Doha," South African physiotherapist Garth Collins said in a video posted on social media.
"Passengers were trapped in the plane for 3,5 hours with closed doors and no air conditioning. Passengers were dehydrating and passing out on the plane. Finally, they were allowed off the plane and now they are sitting in a queue without any communication from the company about what the situation is," he said, among other things, while claiming that some passengers were going to miss their connecting flights from Doha and that only one person was available to help at the ticket control desk.
"The passengers were finally given a cup of water and a small soft drink, completely inadequate to hydrate a person after the mandatory sauna on the plane," he said elsewhere, posting a video of Muay Thai fighter Damian Collins in which sweat dripping from his body. “Damian is a fit athlete,” he said, noting: “Imagine the stress and risk for any normal person. The boxer, who also hails from South Africa, was visiting Greece for the IFMA World Championships.
According to reports, 49 members of the Thai Muaythai team and some Thai reporters were also on the flight. Boxer Thannachai Sidsongpeenong said he was "in shock" after the ordeal and felt "lucky to get through it". According to reports, the flight arrived in Doha at around 10.30 am. on June 11 – 16 hours late.
Source: iefimerida.gr
