Airport dispute maid 'vanishes'

A house maid detained at Bahrain International Airport after her sponsor was stopped from deporting her due to alleged unpaid salary has vanished, according to officials.
Airport authorities say she is no longer in their custody and Indian Embassy officials are investigating whether she has been transferred to another detention centre.
M T Khadeeja was taken to the airport by her sponsor on January 29 to be flown out of the country, but his attempt was foiled following the intervention of authorities. She claimed she had not been paid for the last 10 months she worked with her boss, whom she knows only as Faisal.
Khadeeja was due to leave by a SriLankan Airlines flight to Calicut, Kerala.
Now, immigration, Civil Aviation, the airline and the Indian Embassy say they have no information about the woman after she was handed over to airport authorities.
She was reportedly under the custody of the Civil Aviation Affairs until the dispute is resolved.
However, Civil Aviation officials, speaking on behalf of airport authorities, say that she is no longer in their custody.
An Indian Embassy official said they were concerned about what had happened to Khadeeja.
Sri Lankan Airlines country manager Terrence DeSilva said that a woman by her name has not flown out of Bahrain since the incident.
17/02/08 Begena P Pradeep/Gulf Daily News, Bahrain

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Categories: airports Feb 2008, Foreign Feb 2008