Passenger falls ill mid-air

Goutam Bauri, a leukaemia patient from Burdwan town, fell seriously ill mid-air while travelling from Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal to Mumbai and the flight had to make an emergency landing at Raipur Airport.

Airport authorities rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead shortly after. Sources said the passenger, suffering from acute blood cancer, was travelling to Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai for emergency treatment when his condition deteriorated suddenly during the flight.

Advertisement

The IndiGo flight from Durgapur to Mumbai was forced to divert last evening after the pilot sought emergency landing permission from Raipur Air Traffic Control (ATC), which was immediately granted. After landing, Mr Bauri was given preliminary medical attention at the airport before being taken to the hospital.

Hundreds of patients from the districts of south Bengal travel to major super-speciality and private hospitals in cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai for advanced treatment via the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal.