Feature: International flights yet to resume at Nepal's TIA, passengers left high and dry

At Nepal's Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA), it has already taken three days to remove debris from the crashed Turkish Airlines Airbus A330 from the runway and despite a mammoth effort from the staff, including a technical team from India, international flights have yet to resume.

For a stranded passenger with only 1,500 rupees (15 U.S. dollars) in his pocket for three days in Kathmandu, the most expensive city of Nepal,getting by is virtually impossible.

A pale and gloomy-faced 22-year-old migrant worker, Krishna Dulal, was sitting in the pedestrians belt in front of the TIA main gate carrying a passport and a ticket in one hand and heavy luggage in the other.

"I have been waiting in the airport since Wednesday afternoon as I had a flight that evening for Saudi Arabia. I have come from a remote district with only 1500 rupees in my pocket. I've managed to survive in this expensive capital for two nights now, but now, I have nowhere to go and nothing to eat," he told Xinhua.

Like Dulal, tens of thousands of other passengers have been stranded in the TIA.

Around 1,500 migrant workers depart for overseas employment every day. As per this calculation, some 5,000 Nepalese youths hailing from different districts have been struggling in the capital to find a way to obtain food and shelter.

TIA operates 80 international flights every day. Due to the closure of the airport, thousands of foreign tourists have been forcibly stranded for more than 72 hours with no exact information on when they can fly.

"I had a flight with Qatar Airways on Thursday morning. I needed to reach England as I had my wedding party on Friday. But the cancellation of my flight has made me miss my own wedding party, its terrible,"Linda, a 27-year-old British national told Xinhua, asking her surname be withheld.

Passengers have gathered in the TIA premises, carrying passports and tickets, along with their luggage, as the authorities said initially that the airport will be reopened on Thursday morning -- an overly optimistic-statement considering the runway has yet to be fully cleared.

A Japanese doctor, who was working on his laptop at the airport told Xinhua, "I came to Nepal a week ago to attend a conference. As my visa was only for 10 days, now I am really confused as to what to do. I also have important deadlines in my home country."

TIA has informed the Department of Immigration to consider individual visa expiry cases.

Following the cancellation of flights, most of the airlines companies are busy handling their passengers' needs and asking them not to panic. A few airline staff are in attendance at the airport, but many are liaising with their clients via telephone and email.

An officer of China Southern Airlines told Xinhua "We too don' t have the exact information about the resumption of flights so we are in the airport itself to console and to provide the right information to our passengers."

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said on Friday at a press conference that the airport may resume operations from Saturday morning. However, they still have no exact idea on when exactly the runway will be 100 percent clear.

As airport security has prohibited the passengers from entering inside the main gate of the airport since Friday morning, their only option has been to wait on the streets, somewhat in despair and with no fixed information. Endi