Hundreds of travelers on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Mumbai have been stuck at Diyarbakır Airport (DIY) in Turkey for over 40 hours, lacking adequate food and with limited rest facilities.
Over 250 passengers, many of whom are from India, have been stranded at the airport since April 2, 2025.
The passengers have criticized the airline for subjecting them to what they described as “inhumane” and “awful” conditions for two days. Some reported that there was only one toilet available for all the passengers and that they had to sit on the floor without blankets.
Many passengers took to social media to share their experiences. Images and video footage spread on X, showing hundreds of passengers waiting at the airport or sleeping in chairs.
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
The aircraft, an Airbus A350, took off from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) at 11:40 local time on April 2, 2025, with a planned arrival at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) in Mumbai at 01:40 local time on April 3, 2025.
The chaos began when Virgin Atlantic flight VS358 was forced to make an unexpected landing at Diyarbakır Airport (DIY), a joint use airport in southeastern Turkey around 19:00 local time on April 2, 2025, due to a passenger needing urgent medical care.
Following the emergency landing, the Airbus A350 faced a technical problem after a “hard landing”, making it unfit for further flight. This left 265 passengers stranded at the airport without any updates on their travel to India.
On April 4, 2025, the Embassy of India announced on X that “all stranded Indian passengers were issued temporary visas yesterday night”. The Embassy also mentioned that, after spending several hours at the airport, the passengers had received “hotel accommodation, meals and medical assistance”.
In a previous statement seen by local media, Virgin Atlantic officially apologized “for the inconvenience caused.” However, this statement was removed as of April 4, 2025.
In a recent update, Virgin Atlantic confirmed that with the required technical approvals in place, “customers impacted by this event are planned to depart from Diyarbakir Airport on the VS1358 at approximately 12:00 local time on April 4, 2025, arriving in Mumbai at approximately 20:30 local time”.
