Captaincy Decision OR Company Decision

[Dominator2]

I am writing this to ask a question of the many Military Aviators who have since left and gone on to work for an airline. A friend of mine was recently on holiday on an island off the coast of Africa. A day prior to their return the island was hit by a tropical storm which closed the airport for some time. Once the airport reopened there was obviously a backlog of flights.
My friends boarded their aircraft as the sun was setting and night was rapidly approaching. As they looked out of the aircraft’s window they could see the captain, head flight attendant plus others obviously having an altercation. Very soon afterwards the aircraft doors were closed, engines started and they were taxing. The aircraft got airborne without 200 passengers or any of the luggage. Apparently the reason given was inadequate runway lighting for a night take-off. I am informed that an aircraft from the same airline took-off 3 hours later to a different destination without any difficulty. My friends received their luggage 3 days later.
My questions are:
Is the minimum standard of lighting required for night operations not laid down somewhere?
Is the captain allowed to over-ride that standard?
If the captain was not happy or legal to get airborne in the dark, should he not have stayed with his passengers and their baggage? To me, being a traditionalist, I would have stayed with my passengers and got airborne when day light and crew duty allowed.

[Herod]

In order. Yes, no and depends. Don't forget that the airline concerned has more than one route. Overnighting the aircraft and crew would have had a knock-on effect which might have lasted for days. Better to inconvenience 200 pax rather than 2,000.

[Backwards PLT]

I would clarify Herod's "No". The captain cannot ignore/override a rule or limitation but he always has a right to be more stringent than the rule if he sees the need ie conditions could still be "legal" but the captain could use his judgment and decide that they are still unsafe and not fly. Of course he then may have to explain himself to his bosses at a later date, but that is why he is a captain (or should be).

[wiggy]

Agree with those above.

If the captain was not happy or legal to get airborne in the dark, should he not have stayed with his passengers and their baggage? To me, being a traditionalist, I would have stayed with my passengers and got airborne when day light and crew duty allowed.

Nice idea in an ideal "Master and Commander" world, but despite the captain having four stripes it's still the company's train set. If company have looked at the big picture, have done the analysis of the consequences of night stopping or getting airborne, and decided they want the aircraft moving then it would be a "brave" commander who would turn round and say "no I'm not going " if it was legal to depart......