India summons Irish envoy, hopes for independent probe

New Delhi, November 16: Voicing concern and angst over the death of an Indian woman who was denied an abortion by doctors in Ireland, India Friday summoned Irish Ambassador Feilim McLaughlin and hoped that the inquiry into the incident would be independent.

The Irish envoy was summoned by M. Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry.

During his meeting with the Irish ambassador, Ganapathi expressed India's concern and angst about the untimely and tragic death of Savita Halappanavar, official sources said here.

Ganapthy stressed that people in India were unhappy that "a young life had come to an untimely end".

Halappanavar arrived Oct 21 with back pain at Galway University Hospital in Ireland where she was found to be miscarrying at 17 weeks. She died of septicaemia Oct 28.

Doctors in the hospital refused to abort her foetus on grounds that "this is a Catholic country".

Ganapathy expressed the hope that the inquiry would be independent and that the Indian ambassador in Dublin would be kept informed of its progress and outcomes, said the sources.

The Irish envoy assured fullest cooperation. He also indicated that the terms of reference for the inquiry are being framed and would be released shortly.

India's envoy to Ireland will Friday officially raise New Delhi's concerns over the death of Halappanavar, the Indian dentist, with the Irish government.

The envoy is expected to present facts as they have been given by the family of the deceased, said highly-placed sources in the external affairs ministry.

"Saving the life of the mother is of prime importance, if you can't save the life of the child," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters here Friday.

"It's an extremely sad and unfortunate thing to happen," said the source.

Halappanavar's death has sparked an outrage in India.

In an official statement Thursday, India said the "tragic death" of the Indian woman in Ireland, after she was denied abortion, was a "matter of concern" and its embassy in Dublin was following the matter closely.

The ministry said the Indian government was awaiting the results of two probes ordered into the death by the Irish government.

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IndiGo CEO says less than 1,000 cancellations on Dec 6; normalcy by Dec 15

News Network

December 5,2025

New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said.

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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