Karnataka's captain Mayank Agarwal
Credit: PTI Photo
Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal suffered a health scare after consuming a still-to-be-identified liquid onboard an IndiGo flight headed from Agartala to Surat via New Delhi on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old was rushed to an ICU at the ILS Hospital in Agartala and is said to be out of danger.
"He (Mayank) will not be able to speak for another 24 hours, and the doctors aren’t yet sure of what he has consumed so we will only know later on what has happened,” said the team manager.
“He complained of a burning sensation in his mouth and down his throat so we attended to him immediately. It looked severe. He was in a lot of pain. But, he is out of danger, and he will be under observation every hour."
The manager revealed that he had been with the police and personnel from Indigo after Mayank, who is the son-in-law of Central Bureau of Investigation chief Praveen Sood, was deemed stable. “…they have opened an investigation now. Nobody has any idea as to what he drank, not even the people seated next to him.”
Another source in the team revealed later in the evening that Mayank’s likely to be allowed to fly on Wednesday, but there was some ambiguity if he is headed to Surat or back to Bengaluru.
The team boarded the flight on Tuesday afternoon and was ready to take-off and soon after the captain announced the stewards to take their seats, Mayank - it was learnt from reliable sources - undid his seatbelt, stood up and began to shout ‘bathroom, bathroom…'.
Another onboard source said Mayank vomited, asked his co-passengers for water before proceededing to call on the stewards.
The flight was brought to a standstill and Mayank was attended to by the stewards in the onboard toilet. Realising that the case was more severe than thought to be initially, they called on the ambulance.
Mayank and the team manager were deplaned and rushed to the hospital even as members of the team looked on in disbelief.
"We have no clue what happened,” said a team member. “He got up suddenly and started shouting. I waved to him and asked him if he was okay. He gave a thumbs up and then pointed towards his mouth. I was sitting a few rows behind him so I couldn’t see what was happening.
“None of us were around him and we were not allowed to help him either. The flight attendants said we could not help with the procedure so we just sat, strapped in and watched. It was scary.
"We spoke to the people who sat next to him later and they said he drank what looked like water from a bottle and suddenly started panicking,” the source added.
Karnataka, after winning their previous game against Tripura in Agartala, were headed to Surat for their next four-day match against Railways from February 2.