The plane held in France since Thursday left this Monday for Mumbai, India, with 275 passengers on board, out of 303 who arrived from Dubai, the Romanian airline’s lawyer announced.
Most of the fifty or so passengers who refused to fly to India and wanted to return to their original destination, Nicaragua, were eventually convinced by a diplomat from the Indian embassy in Paris and French authorities.
About 25 passengers decided to stay in France and seek asylum, including five of the 11 unaccompanied minors on the plane, while two others were detained.
The Airbus A340 of the Romanian aviation company Legend Airlines arrived on Thursday at Vatry airport, about 140 kilometers from Paris, for a technical stopover on its route from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Managua (Nicaragua), because it could not continue its journey continued by the French authorities on suspicion of human trafficking.
On Sunday, the French court lifted the order to immobilize the plane.
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, which led the investigation, also announced on Sunday that it had authorized the lifting of the ground warrant for the Legend Airlines plane.
The plane was stopped by French authorities on Thursday as it landed at the small airport for a technical stopover between Dubai and Managua, after French authorities received an anonymous tip that there may be human trafficking victims among the passengers.
Source: DN
