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Delta passengers stuck on an island after a flight was diverted were told not to start a revolution. Staff at the airport said they were lucky to have a second chance at life and their plane could have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Flight 157 from Ghana to New York was diverted to Lajes Airport on the Portuguese Island of Terceira due, to an issue with a backup oxygen system. Passengers disembarked and were brought to a "partitioned section" of the airport, Nana Asante-Smith posted on X.

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Don’t start a revolution on an island!

Passengers say they were stuck on the island for 12 hours. When they complained about conditions at the airport, they said they were told to "be grateful."

Angry passengers on the Delta Air Lines flight say they were stuck in an enclosed airport area for 12 hours and were told by staff not to start "a revolution."

Videos posted by passengers seem to back up their claims.

One of the passengers, who said the flight took off on Friday and landed on Terceira in the early morning of Saturday wrote a public complaint on Facebook. And alleged that customers were told to drink water from bathroom faucets and had to negotiate for food.

"We were abandoned by Delta and treated like encroaching roaches by airport representatives on Terceira Islands," said Asante-Smith.

Asante-Smith said they arrived around 6 a.m., and the air crew was soon shuttled away to a hotel, but the passengers were told they had to remain within the partitions.  And many of them tried to contact an unresponsive Delta for more information.

"We were trying to reach out to Delta during this time and ascertain what exactly was going on to no avail," Asante-Smith said.

Meanwhile, Asante-Smith said airport representatives initially told the passengers they would be given a meal and that a plane from Boston would arrive in several hours to pick them up.

But the meals did not arrive, and passengers were only given ham sandwiches, juice boxes, and crackers later after "begging and pleading." Many of those on the flight could not eat ham due to dietary restrictions associated with pork.

Sarkodie

Rapper on Board 

Ghanaian musician and BET award-winning rapper Sarkodie were on the Delta flight. The rapper was scheduled for an event in Detroit but missed it due to the diversion to Terceira.

Posting to his official X account (formerly Twitter) to update his family and fans, Sarkodie wrote:

“So I missed my event in Detroit due to @Delta doing an emergency landing on an island in Portugal yesterday. It was unfortunate but I know these things happen, so I wasn’t trippin even though they communicated poorly and didn’t have the courtesy to update us on exactly what was happening.

“Sat at the airport for about 6 hours and from complaints from passengers, this isn’t new with that airline, especially from this part of the world (Africa) they keep sending these weak old flights (business class almost same as economy) to pick us up knowing very well they are not safe but still risk lives.”

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“We almost landed on the ocean but thank God we touched that island safe. No compensation nothing and our bags (are) still on the island. Moving forward I wouldn’t want to tarnish a business but hopefully they see to this problem and resolve it … and to my fans in Detroit I’m very sorry and we working on making it up to you,” Sarkodie added.

As of Monday, Sept 11 the passengers on the flight have not received their luggage back and allege they have not received any compensation for the flight.