Thousands of bags have been misplaced at the Delhi airport due to a failure of the airport's baggage handling system, India's ANI news agency reported.

The airport staff had to deal with increased numbers of "dangerous goods" such as power banks and lighters in checked luggage that impacted the baggage handling, ANI tweeted, citing a Delhi airport spokesperson.

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Vistara Airlines, which was among the airlines affected, said bags could not be loaded on to flights as the Delhi airport was facing "challenges with the baggage handling system post check-in."

It was not clear exactly how many passengers had been affected due to the snag, which led to long queues and flight delays.

Passengers took to Twitter to share their plight.

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport is one of the busiest in the world with more than 50 million annual passengers.

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