A Karachi-bound flight that reportedly took off with a faulty air-conditioning system, and was delayed by more than three hours, left many pilgrims in distress.

A report in the Dawn newspaper said that a passenger even fainted on board due to suffocation and a rise in cabin temperature.

According to the report, the flight from Medina, was scheduled to arrive in Karachi on Saturday afternoon bringing home Hajj pilgrims but was delayed due to unexplained reasons.

A video confirming this went viral on social media on Monday when a verified Twitter account @airlivenet posted a video of passengers passing out in front of the plane’s marked exits.

The video, which was shared by an on-board passenger, shows people fanning themselves with leaflets while some elderly men passed out in front of the exit.

Women and children

The Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV-706 had mostly women and children. A source at Karachi airport said that the cabin crew learnt about a technical problem after all passengers had boarded the aircraft.

Due to this issue [which interfered with the air-conditioning], he explained, the plane did not take off for an hour or so. “Eventually the crew decided that it would be best to continue with the flight, hoping that the air-conditioning would start working soon,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

According to the report, “Doctors who were on the plane helped revive the passengers who had fainted. We later found out that the air-conditioning was working fine in the cockpit”.

source: Alarabiya