I cannot recall exactly but I know that country to country the regs for refuelling with pax aboard changes. It may be that it is not allowed in PMI so by keeping them on the steps they are not 'on board'? The alternative would be not to call the busses or to send the pax back to the terminal with the inevitable..................
Some countries allow refuel with pax on board with fire cover. It could also be that this had been arranged and then did not turn up or was delayed.
Sounds like lateral thinking to me by the crew
. I would hazard a guess that most of the pax went to PMI to get blistered, trashed and red anyway.
