‘Dunki’ flight with Indians grounded by France in Mumbai now. What about 25 other passengers? 10 points

A charter plane carrying 276 passengers, mostly Indians, grounded in France for four days over suspected human trafficking, landed at the Mumbai airport on early Tuesday morning, news agency PTI reported.

The Airbus A340 from Dubai in the UAE, which had initially been bound for Nicaragua before French authorities halted its departure, landed in Mumbai just after 4am, aviation tracking website Flightradar24 showed. It had taken off from Vatry airport near Paris around 2.30pm local time.

The flight, operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines and bound for Nicaragua, had landed with 303 Indians at Vatry on Thursday for a technical stopover en route from Dubai when French authorities grounded it.

Plane with Indians lands in Mumbai: What we know so far

1. French authorities said the plane had 276 passengers on board when it took off for Mumbai. As many as 25 persons, including two minors, had expressed the wish to apply for asylum and were still on French soil.

2. Two others were held and produced before a judge, who were brought before a judge, were released and placed on assisted witness status, a French news channel said.

3. When the Airbus A340 flight landed at Vatry airport, there were 11 unaccompanied minors among the 303 Indian passengers on board, a local official had said.

4. Makeshift beds were arranged for the stranded passengers, who were given access to toilets and showers and provided meals and hot drinks in the hall of Vatry airport.

5. After the flight had landed at Vatry, French authorities launched a judicial investigation into the conditions and purpose of the trip, with a unit specialising in organised crime investigating suspected human trafficking.

6. The French authorities are continuing to investigate the case for violation of immigration laws, but no longer for potential people trafficking, news agency AFP quoted judicial sources as saying.

7. After questioning the passengers for two days, French prosecutors on Sunday gave the go-ahead for the plane to leave.

8. AFP reported that the Indians were likely workers in the United Arab Emirates who had been bound for Nicaragua as a jumping-off spot for the United States or Canada.

9. The Indian embassy in Paris posted on X on Monday that it was grateful for the “quick resolution” of the incident.

10. Nicaragua has become a popular destination for those seeking asylum in the US. As many as 96,917 Indians attempted to enter the US illegally in the financial year 2023, signalling a 51.61 per cent jump from the previous year, according to data made available by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). At least 41,770 of those Indians attempted to enter the US via the Mexican land border, CBP data shows. Flights to Nicaragua or third countries where obtaining travel documents is easy have come to be known as ‘donkey’ or ‘dunki’ flights.