Passengers suffer nosebleeds, ear pain on flight from Muscat

Muscat: An Air India Express flight was forced to return to Muscat on Sunday shortly after takeoff, after several passengers suffered nosebleeds and ear pain due to the loss in cabin pressure.
The incident happened soon after the plane, which had 182 passengers onboard, took off from Muscat International Airport around 2:45 AM on Sunday morning heading to Kozhikode in India.
"The flight returned to Muscat immediately after the passengers complained of nose bleeding," an Air India Express official told Times of Oman.
The engineers were called and the flight had to undergo severe checks and finally took off for Kozhikode at 2:18 PM. "After a delay of nearly 12 hours, the flight again started its journey for Calicut (Kozhikode)," a passenger said.
Officials said the flight returned to Muscat International Airport due to "aircraft pressurisation problem", adding that a replacement crew and parts for the airplane had to be flown in from Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The passengers were treated by the airport doctor and declared fit to travel.
The flight, IX350, had 182 passengers, including infants. It was a Boeing 737-8 aircraft and finally landed at 6:54 PM in Kozhikode.