Mumbai, Oct 19 (Inditop.com) A chartered US military aircraft, which was detained in Mumbai Sunday due to a discrepancy in its call sign, took off Monday for Bangkok after a 33-hour delay, airport officials said.
The aircraft took off shortly after 5 p.m. from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, where it had been parked since early Sunday.
The aircraft was ordered to land by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and was cleared by Indian security agencies Sunday afternoon.
The customs and immigration departments again checked the aircraft before it was finally given the green signal to depart, officials said.
The plane, carrying 205 marines on a holiday trip to Bangkok, could not take off Sunday on account of a dispute over payment of certain charges by the aircraft to the Air Traffic Control and other procedural issues.
The US Embassy in New Delhi and the US consulate in Mumbai had decided to put up the marines and the crew members in a nearby hotel for an overnight halt.
Accordingly, after processing their visa and other documents, the passengers and crew checked into Hotel Hyatt Regency adjacent to the airport.
