France grounds aircraft bound to Nicaragua with some 300 Indians on board

France has grounded a charter flight headed to Nicaragua carrying 303 Indian passengers.

And a judicial investigation into the conditions and purposes of the trip has been launched, local officials in the eastern Marne region said on Friday.

French media, including BFM TV and France 3, reported that authorities were probing suspicions of human trafficking.

The flight, carried out by a Romanian charter company, had departed from Dubai on Thursday and landed at the small Vatry airport for a technical stopover when police intervened, the Marne prefect’s office said in an e-mailed statement.

“The reception hall at Vatry airport was transformed into a waiting area with individual beds to provide passengers with the best possible reception conditions”, it said, adding that a judicial investigation had been opened.

The local public prosecution office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Taking note of the development, the Indian Embassy in France said they were informed about the plane with “303 people, mostly of Indian origin, from Dubai to Nicaragua detained on a technical halt at a French airport”.

“French authorities informed us of a plane with 303 people, mostly of Indian origin, from Dubai to Nicaragua detained on a technical halt at a French airport. The embassy team has reached & obtained consular access. We are investigating the situation, and also ensuring the wellbeing of passengers,” Indian authorities said on X, formerly Twitter.