In a shocking incident, a passenger was dragged off the plane by police after a mid-air brawl forced the flight to make an emergency landing.
The incident happened on a Ryanair flight travelling from London to Spain's Canary Islands. It had to be diverted to Faro, Portugal when the brawl involving seven passengers began on board, according to reports in the media.
Having departed from Luton, London Airport at 8:15 AM, Ryanair Flight 3511 was heading to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. But it landed in Faro around 10:50 AM— nearly an hour earlier than it was due to land in Arrecife, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
A media outlet quoted a witness saying that when the passengers who created all the chaos boarded the plane, they "sat at the back and kept on causing issues and being loud and obnoxious".
On Jan. 19, a #Ryanair flight from #London Luton to #Lanzarote was forced to land in Faro, #Portugal, after a drunk passenger was harassing female passengers, and he also smacked a flight attendant. The Portuguese authorities dragged him out of the aircraft.
— FlightMode (@FlightModeblog) January 21, 2024
🎥 © @MGonigle pic.twitter.com/uLlRvRQh8S
The group reportedly included three men and four girls, who were under the influence of alcohol. The men then began harassing women passengers on the flight. The unruly passengers allegedly pushed a steward into the toilet and also harassed "shaken" crew members. The captain of the Ryanair flight 3511 then issued a stern warning over the loudspeaker, stating that such "unacceptable behaviour" would result in the plane diverting to Portugal.
When the warning did not stop the disruptive behaviour, the captain decided to re-route the plane. Upon landing in Portugal, a man seen fighting on the plane initially exited the plane voluntarily but stubbornly got back on.
A video on social media shows the man fighting against Portuguese police. The passenger was then taken to the floor and carried by four cops to the door of the plane in a headlock before being forced into a police car.
The man was arrested for "the crimes of disobedience, resisting arrest and coercion against a civil servant" according to the Portuguese police, and is due to appear in court soon.
The Ryanair plane eventually departed Faro at 11:50 AM and finally landed at its intended destination in the Canary Islands in Spain at 1:20 PM, according to flight records.
A similar incident took place on a Ryanair flight earlier this month. A passenger was arrested for drunken behaviour that forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Spain.
The troublemaker believed to be from Portugal, supposedly punched the seat in front of him several times, forcing passengers to leave their seats for fear of being hit. He was also seen confronting the cabin crew.
Despite the efforts of the Ryanair staff, who tried to calm him down, the man became progressively more violent, so the pilot decided to request an emergency landing in Vigo.
