Over 24-hours ordeal finally ends for 60 Indian fliers as Gulf Air flight takes off from Kuwait

NEW DELHI: Stranded Mumbai to Manchester Gulf Air flight, carrying around 60 Indian passengers, on Monday finally took off from Kuwait after it was diverted there due to a technical snag.

Taking to X Indian embassy in Kuwait said that the flight departed from the Kuwait International Airport at 4:34 am.

"Gulf Air flight to Manchester finally departed at 0434 hours today carrying stranded Indian passengers among others. The Embassy team was on the ground till the flight departed."


Gulf Air GF5 had taken off from Bahrain at 2.05 am on December 1 for Manchester where they were to land after 7.5 hours. However, a snag forced the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to instead land in Kuwait at 4.01 am (all timings local).

Then the nightmare started for Indian travellers — who were travelling one-stop via Bahrain to the UK — on board this aircraft as many other foreign nationalities were eligible for VoA in Kuwait and were able to leave the airport while they were stranded there.

What added to the stranded Indians’ woes was a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Kuwait which meant that the airport hotel was unavailable. The embassy had managed to put them up in the airport lounge.