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Dubai flights diverted after heavy rain, passengers stranded

DXB spokesperson says operations will be back to normal from Monday morning.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded on Sunday (March 17) night after several incoming flights were diverted from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to other airports in the UAE and Oman due to the unstable weather.

"Dubai Airports can confirm that 10 flights inbound for DXB were diverted to neighbouring airports during the early hours of Monday (March 18) due to adverse weather conditions," a DXB spokesperson told Khaleej Times on Monday.

"All the diverted flights have since returned to DXB and normal operations have been restored at the airport," the spokesperson added.

One passenger, who took EK573 from Kolkata, India to DXB, was supposed to have landed past midnight but the flight was diverted to Muscat, and then finally to Al Ain, where the passengers were stuck on the runway for four hours.

"The reason given to us was that DXB ’was too busy to let us in’," the passenger told Khaleej Times.

"More than 50 people on board have missed their connecting flights," added the Dubai resident.

A fresh set of crew was allocated to operate flight EK573 which continued towards the Dubai International Airport and arrived after being delayed for 6 hours and 45 minutes.

"Emirates apologises to all the affected passengers for any inconvenience caused, but the safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised," an Emirates spokesperson told Khaleej Times.

Emirates said: "Adverse weather in Dubai during the early hours of March 18, caused the diversion of Emirates flight EK060 (Hamburg to Dubai International Airport) to Dubai World Central, and Emirates flight EK573 (Kolkata to Dubai International Airport) to the Al Ain International Airport. 

"It was after the weather conditions improved, that flight EK060 continued towards the Dubai International Airport and arrived there after being delayed for 2 hours 20 minutes," Emirates added.

The airline added: "Due to the crew duty time limitations, a fresh set of crew was allocated to operate flight EK573 which continued towards the Dubai International Airport and arrived after a 6 hours and 45 minutes delay."

Backlogs have been cleared and operations have been back to normal since Monday (March 18) morning.