According to the Associated Press (AP), around 300 Indian citizens include children and families, with Civil Protection telling local press that the youngest passenger is a 21-month-old baby, while 13 unaccompanied minors have also been registered.
According to the AP, white walls were placed around Vatry airport, in the Champagne region, to ensure passenger privacy. An unidentified aircraft had been parked there since Thursday and other flights were diverted due to the on-site investigation.
The 15 members of the Legend Airlines charter flight – from Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, en route to Managua, Nicaragua – were interrogated and released, a lawyer for the Romanian airline said.
The investigation has been ongoing since Thursday at Vatry airport, when the plane, after stopping for refueling, was stopped by French authorities following an anonymous tip that it might be carrying human trafficking victims, the French public prosecutor’s office said.
Two people have been detained and special investigators are questioning the remaining passengers, who are stranded at the airport and sleeping in makeshift beds for two nights, an official from France’s Marne department said.
The investigations are also monitored by the Indian authorities, whose consular representatives have been monitoring the process on the ground.
Source: DN
