Aussies stranded in Bali after disastrous AirAsia flight

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AS MANY as 300 Australian-bound passengers remain stranded in Bali after almost everything that could go wrong on their AirAsia flight, did.

Flight D7206 left Kuala Lumpur for the Gold Coast on Monday afternoon but two hours into the trip a female passenger complained of severe stomach pain.

The A330 had just passed over Bali and so the plane turned back and landed at Ngurah Rai Airport.

After an hour on the ground, the aircraft returned to the air — only to have another medical emergency develop.

Queensland passenger Ashley Cripps said the gentleman had a doctor’s clearance to fly after undergoing surgery but started bleeding.

“Upon arrival in Bali the second time we were informed that the crew was out of hours and that we would have to disembark,” said Mr Cripps, who is returning home from a holiday in Vietnam.

“We had to pay for an Indonesian visa out of our own pockets — $57 — but that’s now been reimbursed by the airline.

“It was a complete shambles. After clearing through customs and getting our baggage we had to wait around for five hours while hotels were arranged.”

When they returned to the airport at 7pm yesterday, and boarded the aircraft at 11pm, passengers were told they could not leave because of nine “no-shows”.

“There was very little communication from the crew about what was going on,” Mr Cripps said. “They did tell us that due to the Indonesian authorities we were unable to depart as the number of passengers who arrived on the flight had to match the number who left, however we know several who decided to make their own arrangements.”

@tonyfernandes AK staff at Bali are so bad. Been stuck here due med emergency for 24 hours. On and off the plane, we are sick of it! #D7206

— Ashley Cripps (@ashley_veejay) February 16, 2016

@tonyfernandes We boarded flight to gold coast on monday night. All the passengers are still here at ngurai rai airport bali. Please assisst

— amerhamzah (@amerhamzahj) February 16, 2016