Flight with 300 Indians Detained in France to Land in Mumbai Tomorrow: Report

New Delhi: The A-340 aircraft operated by Romania’s Legend Airlines, carrying over 300 passengers, mostly Indians,which was detained near Paris four days back due to suspected human trafficking, is expected to reach Mumbai on Tuesday morning.

The plane was grounded by French authorities at the Vatry airport, 150 kilometres east of Paris last week.

A French court on Sunday allowed the plane to leave France.

The plane that was detained in France was a Nicaragua-bound charter plane with 303 passengers. The passengers were mostly Indians with at least 11 unaccompanied minors.

Following an anonymous tip-off about the possibility of human trafficking, the charter plane was grounded at the Vatry airport in France, when it arrived from Dubai for refuelling.

A French court on Sunday allowed the Airbus A340 to leave France after interrogating the passengers for two days, the local prefecture said in a statement. The statement did not mention what will be their destination.

Francois Procureur, head of the local bar association, said at a press conference that the passengers would be flown to India. But Indian authorities have not confirmed it.

The Indians in the plane were likely workers in UAE who were heading for Nicaragua on their way to the US or Canada, news agency AFP reported.