Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (MS)

Mumbai, Jul 10: A 49-year-old unwell man, a native of Mangaluru, who was on his way from Mumbai to seek a doctor's appointment for the spinal cord injury, died at Mumbai airport on the morning of Tuesday, July 9 as Air India refused to issue him boarding pass citing overbooking of the flight as the reason and put him in a hotel for the overnight stay.

The unfortunate victim who died because of the apathy displayed by Air India is William Fernandes, father of two children. He was working as a nurse in Tel Aviv and was coming to the city with the only purpose of seeking medical treatment for the spinal cord injury which had begun to cause issues in his leg. His family members were waiting at the airport at Mangaluru with an ambulance to take him immediately to the hospital upon his arrival.

William Fernandes with his family

Arun Fernandes, friend and roommate of William in Tel Aviv said that William did not complain of any health-related issue when they both left from the hotel to the airport in the morning. As soon as they reached the airport, Arun went in search of a wheelchair for William. But by the time he was back to the car in which he and William arrived to the airport, William had collapsed in the car. The doctors at the Mumbai airport rushed to the car in which William had collapsed but found that William is already dead.

Post-mortem of William was conducted at the Cooper Hospital but the doctors could not arrive any clear conclusion with regards to the cause of his death. Some samples of his body are sent to the laboratory at the JJ hospital for further histopathological tests.

The family members of William Fernandes tried to register a complaint of negligence on the airline on Tuesday itself. However, they could not do so till the evening of Tuesday as they did not have some required documents. The mortal remains of William will be flown from Mumbai to Mangaluru on the morning of Wednesday, July 10.

A group of five Indian men, including the deceased William, were care takers of old and infirm people in Tel Aviv for the past 11 years. William had suffered a back injury in an accident that took place a year ago. He began to suffer with excruciating back pain since past few weeks and also lost partial mobility in his legs. The medical tests carried out on William revealed that he has suffered damage in sixth, seventh and eighth verebrae of his spinal cord, which needed a surgery to set it right. As the cost of surgery would be very high in Tel Aviv, the family members decided to have it done at Mangaluru.

As William was experiencing pain in his legs, his family arranged an ambulance in Mangaluru and was waiting outside the airport to take him to the hospital as soon as he landed in the international airport at Mangaluru.

As per the details of the whole saga, given by Arun Fernandes, roommate of William, they landed at the Mumbai airport at 7.30 am on Monday, July 8. Their connecting flight to Mangaluru by Air India was schedule at 10.25 am. They reached the counter of the airline and checked in their baggage at 8.30 am. However, they were not issued boarding passes and were asked to wait.

After sometime, the airline officials confirmed that the flight to Mangaluru is overbooked and offered Arun and William to travel to Goa by the Air India flight and then take a taxi to Mangaluru. But with the condition William was in, it was not practical. In fact, the operations of many flights were affected at the Mumbai airport on the morning of Monday between 9.12 am to 9.31 am due to heavy downpour.

In its clarification on the issue, Air India said that their records do not carry any alert by the passenger about his emergency health condition. Overbooking according to a spokesperson of the airline is a common phenomenon in order to cover up for no-shows. Only those arriving at the last moment are allowed to board the flight.

In his version, Arun Fernandes, who accompanied the deceased William, says that the fact that William was wheel-chair bound should have alerted the airline staff to board him on priority. Arun also clarified that the airline did not seek any medical documents during any point of time of checking in of baggage. Arun also negated that he and William were late to arrive at the counter. Arun said, "From Tel Aviv, we landed at 7.30 am and we were at the counter of Air India flight to Mangaluru at 8.30 am for the flight that was scheduled to leave at 10.25 am. How this can be termed as late?"

Kevin Rekhy, a family friend of William cites a clear lapse on the part of Air India in dealing with the issue. He says, "What more is required as a proof, when a passenger is on a wheelchair and pleads the airline to board him as he needs to go for a medical treatment? Both William and Arun reached the counter on time. We will ask for the footage of the CCTV. Air India has a lot to answer."