Several passengers were escorted off a Ryanair flight from Manchester Airport after a "drunken" man reportedly "urinated" on a seat.
The flight from Manchester to Tenerife, on Sunday evening (September 18) was forced to divert to the Portugese island of Porto Santo, where the man and a small number of other passengers were removed from the plane after becoming "disruptive". One passenger has told the Liverpool Echo what it was like to be onboard the troubled flight.
The passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the man looked "rotten" drunk and was repeatedly told to sit down by cabin crew before the pilot chose to divert the flight. He explained: “The flight was delayed at Manchester Airport so there was more drinking time. Usually when you get on a delayed flight, the first thing you hear is the captain and cabin crew welcoming you on board and apologising for the delay.
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"But straight away the first announcement on the system was ‘anyone found drinking their own alcohol or smoking in the toilets will be dismissed from the plane and if needs be we’ll divert’ so they were aware of this passenger straight away.
“The guy was just wild. He was very drunk and was up and down out of his seat and was told to sit down loads of times. Eventually, he wanted to go to the toilet but he was told no, so he stood up and there was an empty seat adjacent to him and he just revealed himself and had a wee on the seat.”
Following the incident, the pilot reportedly warned the flight would be diverted and police would be called if the man persisted with his behaviour. However, after a number of arguments broke out on board, the pilot had no choice but to land the plane.
The anonymous passenger added: "People were trying to reason with the man and talk to him but he was gone. It was just mad."
The plane landed in Porto Santo, where local police removed the rowdy passengers from plane before the flight continued onto Tenerife. Despite the disruption, the anonymous passenger has praised the Ryanair cabin crew for the way they dealt with the incident.
He said: “The Ryanair staff handled the situation really well because it wasn’t nice to deal with but they were brilliant."
A Ryanair spokesperson said: "This flight from Manchester to Tenerife (18 Sept) diverted to Porto Santo after a small number of passengers became disruptive inflight. The aircraft landed safely, and these passengers were removed from the aircraft by local police before it continued to Tenerife.”
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