Airline employee caught throwing musicians' fragile baggage

(Facebook/Thundamentals)

Australian hip-hop group Thundamentals are the latest victims of airline luggage mishandling.

The trio was flying Virgin Australia last week and captured a video of their instruments being roughly unloaded onto a luggage conveyor belt at Sydney Airport, despite the fact that the items were labeled as “Fragile.”

The group uploaded the video to their band’s official Facebook page and since then it has viewed almost 1 million times and received over 30,000 likes.

“Oh! That’s my keyboard!” one of the distressed  bandmembers can be heard in between expletives as they watch in horror while their equipment is tossed onto the moving belt.

Along with the Facebook post, Thundamentals posted a note to their fans:

“Apologies if our equipment doesn't work for our gig tonight, doesn't seem like @virginaustralia take care when reading the "fragile" label on our instruments. #thisguysucks #muzlyf #TM”

A spokesman from Virgin Australia told Australia’s Herald Sun that the airline was investigating the issued and had since contacted the band’s management to apologize for the incident.

The airline released the following statement: “We sincerely apologize to the Thundamentals for the mishandling of their luggage. Virgin Australia always endeavors to take care of our guests’ luggage and are investigating this particular incident. Virgin Australia is proud to support Australian musicians with a range of initiatives which includes the provision of an excess baggage allowance.”

After all the media attention, the band later posted a second statement to their Facebook page, saying that they did not intend for the handler shown to lose his job and that they hope that airline employees will receive better training in the future. They noted that they have witnessed other carriers being even more careless with their DJ equipment.

They added, "To their credit @VirginAustralia have been pro active in trying to rectify the situation for which we are genuinely appreciative. We have been flying with them for years and will continue to do so."

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