After being grounded for four days due to a human trafficking investigation, a passenger plane that was transporting 303 Indians to Nicaragua was finally permitted to depart from France’s Vatry Airport in Champagne nation on Sunday. Numerous stranded passengers would be flown back to India on Monday, according to a lawyer for the Romanian airline Legend Airlines, as reported by The Associated Press.
Regional prosecutor Annick Browne told AP that local officials were completing last-minute paperwork to let some travelers depart the tiny Vatry Airport on Christmas Eve. Since Thursday, all of the travelers—including a child who was 21 months old—had been stranded in the airport terminal.
As part of a special French investigation into possible human trafficking by an organized criminal group, two passengers were detained. The local government said that several others applied for asylum in France. Eleven of the passengers, according to the prosecution, were unaccompanied minors receiving special administrative care.