A Malaysia Airlines flight, which was supposed to depart from Mumbai at 2 am on Thursday, took off after a delay of 18 hours, inconveniencing 250 passengers, said airport sources.

The flight, MH 187, was delayed due to technical reasons and it took off at 8.45 pm on Thursday after engineers ironed out the kinks, said Malaysia Airlines officials.

Due to the severe delay, passengers screamed at the airport staff and chanted slogans against the airline for not informing them about the reason of the delay.

However, airline officials said the passengers were accommodated at a hotel and were given food on time. “On Thursday, at 8.45 pm, the aircraft took off with all the passengers,” said an airline official.

According to airport sources, the passengers reached for boarding on time, but after finishing the check-in process they were informed that the flight was postponed due to a technical error, following which they were made to wait at the international terminal of Mumbai airport.

Around 6 am on Thursday, the airline accommodated the passengers at the Hyatt without giving any clarification.

They were they brought to the airport 4 pm, which was when they lost their cool.