A US-bound flight was forced to return to Tokyo's Haneda Airport after a passenger on board bit the arm of a flight attendant. The alleged incident took place on Tuesday on All Nippon Airways flight 118 over the Pacific Ocean. The authorities have not yet revealed the identity of the 55-year-old American man accused of biting the attendant.
However, he was arrested soon after the flight landed in Japan. According to a report by Kyodo News, the accused told the police that he does not remember what transpired since he had taken sleeping pills.
Meanwhile, the airline has said that the man was "intoxicated" and "acting in an unsafe manner to the flight crew and passengers".
"The safety and security of our passengers and employees are our top priority, and we will take all necessary actions to ensure it," the airline's statement added. No passengers received any injuries, and the flight left for Seattle, United States, on Wednesday.
The incident comes days after two planes collided on a runway in Japan. The mishap happened when a Korean Air Lines jet came into contact with a Cathay Pacific Airways plane at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, Japan's northern island.
The Korean Air plane had over 280 passengers and crew on board, however, there were no passengers on the Cathay Pacific plane. The collision left the Cathay Pacific aircraft with damage to its left wing, but no injuries were reported in the incident.
Earlier this month, five people died after a Japan Airlines passenger plane hit a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport.
The plane burst into flames soon after the collision, and passengers had to be evacuated. But five coastguard crew members from the smaller plane were killed in the collision. The pilot survived but was left in a serious condition.
In 2017, a similar incident was reported onboard a New York-bound JetBlue flight. The plane was forced to divert to Las Vegas after a man began biting his fellow passengers. The man was taken into police custody when the plane landed.
According to passengers, the man suddenly began biting people sitting next to him some whom he appeared to know, while the plane was over Utah. The man also hit others on board the flight from Los Angeles to New York.
Even the doctors who tried to help him by examining his condition were attacked by the man. The plane was forced to turn around and the passenger was eventually escorted off the aircraft.
Creating a ruckus onboard a plane while it is airborne carries severe penalties and even years in prison. Sometimes, a person involved in such incidents can also face a lifetime ban from flying.
