Stranded at Ben-Gurion, passengers hope for the best

After almost 24 hours in the departures hall of Ben-Gurion Airport, Derick Maregele, a Methodist minister from Cape Town, South Africa, said he had easily built up enough material for a sermon when he returns to his congregation, whenever that might be.“I feel like a vagabond of some sort, I’ll definitely get some material from this,” said Maregele, pointing at a spot on the departures hall floor where he slept the night before. The clergyman had arrived at 9 p.m. Sunday night to catch the 1 a.m. El Al flight to Johannesburg, only to learn that the flight was canceled and that no one knew when the next flight home would be.