Passengers stranded nine hours as airport eye-scanner fails

A technical glitch with an eye-scanner resulted in airport chaos, as passengers were stranded for up to nine hours at Sharjah International Airport, UAE.

The airport had no alternative provision in place to deal with visitors to the Emirates when the eye-scanning system malfunctioned. Hundreds of arriving passengers were forced to wait around until the technology was back on line to scan their irises. The National reported it took almost nine hours for airport personnel to resolve the problem so that immigration staff could resume scanning passenger irises. Gulf News reported that relatives said passengers were stranded with no food, water or cash in the chaotic airport. Sharjah Airport staff were dependant upon a team from Abu Dhabi to arrive to deal with the scanners. An eye-scan is mandatory for those arriving in UAE and is used to detect people using fake passports and to prevent previously deported people from re-entering. Emirates 247 reported that the Ministry of Interior is looking into the problem.