National boxers suffer tarmac ‘sauna’
Forty-nine members of the Thai boxing team and accompanying Thai reporters voiced their anger at being held “captive” for three hours without air conditioning on a Qatar flight sitting on the tarmac at Athens airport, in Greece.
The Thai boxers and the reporters on the flight were heading home on Monday from the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA) Senior World Championships held in the Greek city of Patras.
A Matichon reporter on the flight said it was full and the air conditioning system was out of order, but the captain did not allow passengers to leave the aircraft. The passengers were kept on the plane for three hours without air conditioning and the doors were closed, Matichon Online reported.
The passengers did not know what was happening until the captain eventually informed them that the air conditioning system was being fixed, but by then, it was like an oven inside the passenger cabin, according to the reporter. It was so hot that some travellers had nose bleeds, others needed oxygen, and children were crying, they added.
A video posted online by Matichon showed some male passengers shirtless, bare to the waist, and other passengers using self-made paper fans.
The reporter said that only after passengers protested loudly and argued with the cabin crew were they allowed to get off the plane and wait on the tarmac.
A video taken from the tarmac by Louise Morfis showed smoke coming from the plane’s rear.
The reporter, however, said the passengers were never informed of the cause of the delay.
“I was in shock. But now I feel that I was lucky to get through the situation,” boxer Thannachai Sidsongpeenong said, adding that it was very hot inside the aircraft.
The reporter’s account was supported by a man posting on the X platform as @chriszeiher.
“What is going on with the @qatarairways QR204 flight out of Athens? Board the flight after smoke is seen billowing from (the) plane, leave everyone on the plane for 3 hrs, no air con in stifling heat only to (surprise) remove everyone as the plane is malfunctioning? @SkyNewsAus,” he wrote.
There has been no official response from Qatar Airways.
QR204 was scheduled to leave Athens at 1.55pm and arrive in Doha at 6.20pm. The flight’s departure was finally delayed for a day. It departed the Greek capital at 6.27am on Tuesday and reached Doha at 10.34am, according to the airline’s website.