Fire in Olbia: 180 passengers stranded in Rome since Thursday: "We're being held hostage."
The Costa Smeralda train service was canceled due to the fire that disrupted the journey on Thursday evening, a real ordeal for travelers: "Mobility is being denied to Sardinians, we know. But this is going too far."Video di Massimiliano Rais
Their flight didn't take off from Fiumicino due to the fire that disrupted connections at Olbia airport yesterday afternoon, July 10th: 180 passengers hoping to reach Sardinia are stranded in Rome. And to make their already grim mood worse, further bad news has arrived: the first available connection to the island is tomorrow morning at 7:50 a.m. Other flights will follow, on which they will be placed depending on availability. They learned this after spending a night in a hotel.
The fire near the Costa Smeralda affected twenty scheduled flights: many incoming flights were diverted to Cagliari, Alghero, and even Rome and Figari, Corsica. Others were canceled, including the 6:55 PM Rome-Olbia flight operated by Volotea.
"When we arrived at the airport," says Rosa Angius, from Nuoro, "we found that the flight had been postponed to 8:10 PM. We repeatedly asked the staff for explanations, but no one informed us of the fire in Olbia. Thus began a shameful ordeal, from boarding to check-in, twice."
Volotea's announcement of the flight cancellation came at 9:00 PM: "They didn't give us any reason," Angius reiterated, "and only through the media did we learn about the canceled flights due to the Olbia fire. My husband, our child, and I were moved to a hotel, where we spent the night until this morning's further blow, with Volotea informing us of our flight for tomorrow at 11:15 AM."
The unfortunate travelers, in addition to the inconvenience of being denied access to the island, also face significant costs for accommodation in the capital. Some of them have recently rebooked plane tickets to Cagliari or ferry tickets on the Civitavecchia-Golfo Aranci route.
"We Sardinians," says Maria Giovanna Corrai, from Bono, "no longer have the right to mobility. We're aware that the fire in Olbia has caused inconvenience, but this is going too far. Many of us will be forced to sleep at the airport because we don't have the money to pay for a hotel room. The airline won't offer us accommodation today, and the only guarantee is a refund within seven days."
Corrai counters: "Even the bus that Volotea had guaranteed us to get to the airport and find a flight today was cancelled. We were forced to pay for a taxi."