Passengers suffer nose and ear bleeding in Jet Airways Mumbai – Jaipur flight

Mumbai: Some passengers on a Jet Airways flight 9W 697 from Mumbai to Jaipur suffered nose and ear bleeding Thursday after the crew “forgot” to turn on a bleed switch that maintains cabin air pressure, officials said.

Oxygen masks got deployed following air pressure related trouble in the Boeing 737 aircraft which returned to Mumbai. Out of 166 passengers and 5 crew staff on board, 30 passengers are affected… some have nose bleeding, few have ear bleeding and some are complaining of headache.

All the affected passengers were attended to by doctors at the airport.One flyer has been admitted to Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital in suburban Vile Parle hospital for for audiometry test.

“He has been admitted and the hospital will issue a health statement after some time,” a spokesperson of the hospital said.

According to DNA report: Five were taken to Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital, while the rest were attended to by doctors at the Mumbai airport. As per their preliminary examination by ENT doctors, the five passengers suffered “barotrauma” of ear, which is caused due to a change in air pressure, said Rajendra Patankar, chief operating officer of Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital. “The five patients, all males, have mild conductive deafness, a temporary condition which is likely to take a week or 10 days to heal. They are advised not to fly till then,” Patankar told reporters.

The crew was being derostered. One version was that it could be a case of negligence on the part of the pilots since controlling cabin pressure control is part of check before operating a flight.