A Singapore Airlines flight returned to the parking bay from the runway at Calcutta airport to let an ailing passenger board the flight late on Saturday.

Twinkle Sarkar, 13, suffering from a malignant cerebral tumour, was part of a six-member group taking the Calcutta-Singapore flight from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. They had checked in around 9pm and were about to proceed for the security check when there was an announcement that custom officials were looking for a member of the group, Paritosh Saha, in connection with an offence.

According to customs officials, Twinkle and her parents Himadri and Sonali were going to Singapore for her surgery, accompanied by Saha and another person, Surajit Dutta.

“While the other members of the group decided to stay back after Saha was detained, Twinkle’s parents wanted to make it to Singapore for her surgery,” an airport official said. Her parents spoke to the customs authorities, who said the trio could leave if they wanted to. Saha had been detained for interrogation and would not be allowed to leave the country now.

But by then, the flight had already started taxiing. The airport authorities informed the airline officials about Twinkle’s condition and requested them to bring the flight back.

“This is a rare incident, but we agreed to call back the flight on humanitarian grounds,” a Singapore Airlines official said. The flight finally took off at 1pm.