An American citizen of Indian origin who works in Bahrain was stuck at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport for the last three days after his handbag, which carried his passport, was taken away by another passenger by mistake. The other passenger was heading to Canada.
Satyendra Singh arrived in Delhi from Lucknow, where his parents live, on Jan. 13, and he was in transit for Bahrain. Little did he know that he would be spending three days at the airport before being able to head back.
“The queue was long so I put my handbag in the scanner. By the time I reached for check and crossed it, I could not find my bag. I informed the security, who checked the CCTV footage and found that another passenger took the bag and boarded the Air Canada flight. The flight had already departed by then,” Singh told the Hindustan Times.
The passenger on Air Canada took Singh’s bag and left his behind by mistake. Singh was left with no money or clothes and spent the night sleeping at the terminal. He was not allowed to leave the terminal since his immigration check had taken place in Lucknow. Neither could he return. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said he could not be allowed to return unless he had a passport, according to protocol.
“I informed my family and they said they will send some money so that I could buy food. But there was no way they could have contacted me. Finally, on Sunday, Air India shifted me to the lounge and I am currently here. Besides the passport, my handbag had my medicines,” he added.
He received his bag on Jan. 15 evening after Air India contacted Air Canada. He was given accommodation and food at the Air India lounge at the Delhi International Airport and “we helped him getting the passport back,” a spokesperson for Air India said, the publication reported.