WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has opened an investigation into whether any laws were violated last week when 47 passengers were stranded overnight on an airport tarmac in Rochester, Minn.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the department’s general counsel is conducting the probe.
“While we don’t yet have all the facts, this incident as reported is very troubling,” LaHood said.
The department has sent Continental Airlines a letter asking for details on Continental Express Flight 2816, which left Houston at 9:23 p.m. Friday but didn’t arrive at its destination in Minneapolis until after 11 a.m. Saturday.
In between, the small airliner spent nearly seven hours sitting on the tarmac in Rochester, where it had been diverted because of thunderstorms, before passengers were allowed to go inside an airportl.
