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191 Stranded 9 Hours On Jet At Airport

Water, Crackers, Offered During Ordeal

POSTED: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

UPDATED: 9:13 am EST December 3, 2008

David McNew/Getty Images

Jets taxi after sunset at Los Angeles International Airport.

LOS ANGELES -- About 200 airline passengers are searching for answers after their flight from El Salvador to Los Angeles -- which normally lasts about 4½ hours -- turned into a 14-hour ordeal.

Dense fog forced a TACA flight headed to Los Angeles International Airport to be diverted to Ontario International Airport instead at midnight on Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Airbus A-321 aircraft then sat on the ground, doors closed, until morning.

Ontario International Airport spokeswoman Maria Tesoro-Fermin said that a new crew had staffed the flight to LAX because the original crew's maximum flight hours had been exceeded.

The passengers were not allowed off the plane.

TACA said Ontario airport authorities did not give permission for passengers to go through customs and enter the country.

However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Fleming said the airline did not ask for permission to let the passengers disembark.

If they had asked, Fleming said his agency would have provided a secure area to let them off the plane.

Passengers told The Associated Press that some that some called 911 to report cramped conditions and illnesses, and described hours of hunger and frustration.

Airport crews gave them water and crackers.

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