'Polythene bags, clothes clogged toilets'

Air India cited its internal probe based on objects found by crews who discovered the objects in the aircraft's plumbing system

- Neha LM Tripathi

NEW DELHI: Air India on Monday confirmed that flight AI126 from Chicago to Delhi on March 5 was forced to return to its departure point because multiple lavatories on the Boeing 777 jet became unusable and said that the problem was caused because people flushed down "polythene bags, rags, and clothes".

The airline cited its internal investigation based on objects found by maintenance crews who discovered the objects in the aircraft's plumbing system, and appeared to pin the blame on flyers by urging "passengers to use lavatories only for the purposes they are meant for".

Experts, however, said the disclosure gives rise to more questions.

"About an hour and forty-five minutes into the flight, the crew reported some of the lavatories in Business and Economy Class to be unserviceable," the Air India spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. By the time the aircraft was over the Atlantic Ocean, two-thirds of toilets had become unusable, "causing discomfort to all on board."

The airline had initially described the issue as a "technical" problem in its earlier statement on Thursday, but provided more specific details following social media attention on Monday. The original incident, including the clogged lavatories having been the trigger for the diversion, was reported by HT on Friday.