On 4 August, Emirates Flight 521 from Thiruvananthapuram crash-landed at Dubai airport and burst into flames, resulting in the death of one firefighter.
A few hours after the crash, footage from inside the flight, taken by a passenger during the evacuation, started going viral online.
A flight attendant from a different airline company shared the video in a since-deleted Facebook post, and referred to the Indian passengers as "fucking rats" and "stupid" for wasting time on gathering their belongings instead of just evacuating.
The comments section was also filled with slurs and stereotypes about Indian passengers on flights.
UAE-based RJ and TV presenter Mohit Dantre chanced upon the post and decided to call out the flight attendant's blatant racism with screenshots and a post of his own, which has since been taken down by Facebook.
Dantre wrote, "I don't think he realizes that a situation is called a panic situation because people panic! There is no set behavior pattern that is taught in case your plane explodes into a fireball, is it? And you know why? Because people don't live to tell the tale! Could people have reacted better? I don't know! Would people from another country react any different or better? I certainly don't think so! How does one react to a situation where you see your life is about to end in the next few seconds. And got to love how he has colored his racist rant into a status update full of 'shock, anger and fear'.
This isn't the first time I have heard such generalised degrading comments about Indians/South Asians by airline crew in the UAE and this definitely won't be the last time. I hope this post eventually makes it to the bosses at Etihad to give them a glimpse into what some of their staff is making the company look like - Racist and insensitive. And that too towards one of their most money making sectors."
Dantre defended the passengers and slammed the attendant for his xenophobia, saying:
"I don't think he realizes that a situation is called a panic situation because people panic! Could people have reacted better? I don't know! Would people from another country react any different or better? I certainly don't think so!
This isn't the first time I have heard such generalized degrading comments about Indians/South Asians by airline crew in the UAE and this definitely won't be the last time."
The attendant messaged Dantre about his post, defending himself by saying "rats is a term I use for anyone who behaves like an idiot".
"Almost every Indian who has flown Etihad or Emirates from Dubai and Abu Dhabi towards India can confirm an indifferent attitude of the crew towards passengers," Dantre told BuzzFeed.
