PARIS: A Romanian aircraft carrying 276 passengers, mostly Indians, on Monday left for India four days after they were detained by the French authorities at an airport near Paris over suspected human trafficking.
“The plane, which had been grounded since Thursday, departed shortly after 14:30 p.m (local time),” BFM TV, a French news broadcast television and radio network, reported.
The Nicaragua-bound charter flight that took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates carrying 303 passengers was grounded at the Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, on Thursday over suspected “human trafficking”.
On Sunday, the French authorities allowed the A340 aircraft, operated by Romanian company Legend Airlines, to resume its journey.
According to the airline’s lawyer, Me Liliana Bakayoko, the plane has 276 passengers on board, 26 of whom are still on French soil, in addition to the two brought before a judge today, the channel reported.
Earlier, the plane was expected to take off around 10 in the morning. However, the departure of the aircraft was delayed as some of the passengers did not want to return to their country of origin, media reports said.
It is reported that the plane will first land in the UAE and then proceed to Mumbai. The situation was for a while confusing, according to Bakayoko.
Speaking to BFMTV, she said some passengers did not want to return to their country of origin and had refused to board the plane. “They wanted to continue their journey to Nicaragua as planned,” said Bakayoko.