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Man stuck at airport after passenger takes his passport to Canada

Dubai - By the time the man realised there was a mix-up, the flight to Canada had already departed.

Satyendra Singh, a US national working in Bahrain, was returning after meeting his parents in Lucknow. His ordeal began at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport on Saturday when another passenger mistakenly took Singh's bag to Canada. The bag contained his passport.

Singh had been stuck at the airport for three days after he arrived in Delhi from Lucknow on Saturday and was in transit to Bahrain, according to reports in Hindustan Times.

"On Saturday afternoon, I reached Delhi and went for a security check to catch the international flight. As the queue was long, I put my handbag in the scanner, but by the time I reached for the checking and crossed it, I could not find my bag. I informed the security, who checked the CCTV footage and found that another passenger took my bag instead of his bag and boarded the Air Canada flight. The flight had already departed by then," said Singh.

Singh was left stranded at the airport without money and clothes, and spent the night on the floor of the terminal as he could not leave the terminal due to security reasons. Moreover, his immigration had been cleared in Lucknow, so he could not even go back.

"I informed my family and they said they will send some money so that I could buy food. But there was no way they could have contacted me. Finally, On Sunday, Air India shifted me to the lounge and I am currently here. Besides the passport, my handbag had my medicines," he added.

The airline, however, acted promptly and an Air Canada flight carrying Singh's bag arrived at Delhi airport on Monday evening. "Singh was provided accommodation and food at the Air India lounge and we helped him get his passport back," a spokesperson for Air India said.