Mass brawl breaks out 30,000 feet in the sky on Ryanair, prompting emergency landing: ‘flight from hell’
A “mass brawl” between passengers onboard a Ryanair “flight from hell” caused the pilot to make an emergency landing after taking off in a seemingly never-ending chaotic scene ignited by a man asking to switch his seat.
The London Stansted Airport-bound flight departed from Agadir, Morocco, on Wednesday when the chaos erupted at 30,000 feet in the air, the Sun reported.
Startling video obtained by the outlet shows passengers screaming at each other from across the plane as panic-stricken airline staff try their best to calm the unhinged travelers.
Tensions began festering before takeoff when a man in his late 20s reportedly asked a woman sitting with her daughter if he could take her seat to be with his wife and kids.
The woman allegedly refused to make the switch, which prompted the unhinged man to start threatening her, the Sun reported.
Unaware of the tensions simmering in the cabin, Ryanair pilots took off as scheduled.
Once the plane reached its cruising altitude and the seat belt sign was turned off, the husband of the female passenger asked to move — a man in his 30s — reportedly came to his wife’s defense, triggering the mayhem.
“They were trying to punch each other,” an anonymous 36-year-old passenger told the outlet.
“One of the families was part of a larger group, so other passengers started to join in. Then a lady in the row behind started to have a panic attack because of everything going on. She was screaming and there were kids crying. It was like a snowball effect.”
The flight was only in the air for “36 minutes” when the plane was forced to make the “unexpected landing,” said the unnamed passenger, described only as a finance worker from Hertfordshire, UK.
“It was so stressful. It was like the flight from hell. And it all escalated from that one passenger wanting to change seats,” he said.
Things became so chaotic that a male passenger allegedly fell ill during the madness, and the cabin crew had to administer him oxygen before landing, according to the Sun.
The Ryanair flight landed in Marrakech, Morocco, where police boarded the aircraft, detained nine passengers involved in the fight and removed them.
The male passenger who fell ill was treated by medics, who deemed him unfit to fly.
But he refused to disembark the plane and began losing his cool — allegedly becoming abusive toward the cabin crew.
“They think I’m a terrorist. That’s why they’re bringing the whole army here to take me down,” the man can be heard shouting in a clip obtained by the Sun.
“Give me my f–king bag. I will whack your jaw, bruv.”
Passengers were heard pleading with the man to get off the plane, but he refused to listen.
Police again had to board the aircraft to remove the crazed passenger.
It took over two hours for the chaos to subside.
Unfortunately for the 200 remaining passengers, the Ryanair crew had reached their maximum flying hours because of the ordeal.
The passengers were bused to a local hotel for the night and booked onto a flight the following morning.
However, the morning flight was also canceled, and the passengers did not arrive at Stansted Airport until Thursday evening, the outlet reported.
Upon their arrival, the passengers were filmed booing Ryanair’s cabin crew, a video shared by the Sun shows.
A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed to the Sun that the “flight from Agadir to London Stansted diverted to Marrakesh after a small group of passengers became disruptive, and during which time another passenger became ill onboard.”
“Crew called ahead for both medical and police assistance, which met the aircraft upon arrival at Marrakesh. The small group of disruptive passengers were then removed from the aircraft by airport gendarmerie,” they added.
“The passenger who became ill was provided with oxygen onboard before being treated by airport medics, who determined that they were not fit to fly. This passenger refused to disembark and became abusive towards crew, and was removed from the aircraft by airport gendarmerie.”
The airline spokesperson confirmed that the “disruptive passengers” caused the over two-hour delay, during which the “crew reached their permitted flying hours” and that overnight accommodation and transport were provided to passengers before they took off the following day.
