Jet Airways Flight Loses Cabin Pressure, 30 Injured

A Jet Airways plane suffered a loss of cabin pressure on a domestic Indian flight on Thursday, causing minor injuries to passengers.

Jet Airways flight 9W 697 was flying from Mumbai to Jaipur with 166 passengers and five crew onboard when it had to turn back shortly after takeoff. Oxygen masks were deployed when cabin pressure dropped on the Boeing 737 as it climbed out.

The aircraft landed safely back in Mumbai some minutes later and 30 passengers were treated for injuries including headaches and ear and nose bleeds.

India’s civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, is investigating the incident amid reports that the aircraft’s pilots did not select a flight setting to maintain cabin pressure. DGCA said it has referred the case to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.

AAIB is a division of the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation that investigates aircraft accidents and incidents.

Pictures on social media showed oxygen masks dropping down just a few minutes after 9W 697 took off, but some passengers said there was no air flowing through them.

Passenger Satish Nair said the plane “lost pressure immediately after taking off” with “scores of passengers including me bleeding from the nose”. He said there were no staff to help and no announcements.

Jet Airways later confirmed the turn-back which was “due to loss in cabin pressure” and that the “cockpit crew has been taken off scheduled duties pending investigation.”