A “mass brawl” between passengers on board a Ryanair “flight from hell” prompted the pilot to make an emergency landing after taking off in a seemingly endless chaotic scene sparked by a man seeking to change seats.
The flight to London Stansted Airport took off from Agadir, Morocco, on Wednesday when chaos erupted 30,000 feet in the air, the Sun reported.
Shocking video obtained by the media shows passengers shouting at each other from across the plane as panic-stricken airline staff try to calm down independent travelers.
Tensions began to flare before take-off when a man in his late 20s reportedly asked a woman seated with her daughter if he could sit in her seat to be with his wife and children.
The woman allegedly refused to make the change, prompting the freelance man to begin threatening her, the Sun reported.
Unaware of the simmering tensions in the cockpit, the Ryanair pilots took off as scheduled.
After the plane reached its cruising altitude and the seat belt sign was turned off, the female passenger’s husband asked her to move – a man in his 30s – reportedly came to his wife’s defense, causing chaos.
“They were trying to hit each other,” an anonymous 36-year-old passenger told the newspaper.
“One of the families was part of a larger group, so other passengers started to join. Then a lady in the row behind started having a panic attack because of everything that was going on. She was screaming and there were crying children. It was like a snowball effect.”
The flight had only been in the air for “36 minutes” when the plane was forced to make an “abrupt landing”, said the unidentified passenger, described only as a finance worker from Hertfordshire, UK.
“It was very stressful. It was like a flight from hell. And it was all escalated by a passenger who wanted to change seats,” he said.
Things got so chaotic that a male passenger allegedly fell ill during the madness and the cabin crew had to give him oxygen before landing, according to the Sun.
The Ryanair flight landed in Marrakech, Morocco, where police boarded the plane, detained nine passengers involved in the fight and removed them.
The male passenger who fell ill was treated by doctors, who deemed him unfit to fly.
But he refused to get off the plane and began to lose his temper – allegedly becoming abusive towards 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’ll cut your jaw, bruv.”
Passengers were heard pleading with the man to get off the plane, but he refused to listen.
The police again had to board the plane to remove the crazed passenger.
It took over two hours for the chaos to calm down.
Unfortunately for the remaining 200 passengers, the Ryanair crew had reached their maximum flight hours due to the ordeal.
Passengers were bussed to a local hotel for the night and booked on a flight the next morning.
However, the morning flight was also canceled and passengers did not arrive at Stansted Airport until Thursday evening, the newspaper reported.
After their arrival, passengers were filmed bringing Ryanair cabin crew to tears, a video shared by the Sun shows.
A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed to the Sun that “the flight from Agadir to London Stansted was diverted to Marrakesh after a small group of passengers became disruptive during which another passenger became ill on board”.
“The crew called for medical and police assistance, which met the plane upon arrival in Marrakesh. The small group of disruptive passengers were then removed from the plane by airport police,” they added.
“The passenger who became ill was given oxygen on board before being treated by airport doctors who determined they were unfit to fly. This passenger refused to get off and became abusive with the crew and was removed from the plane by the airport police.
The airline’s spokesman confirmed that “disruptive passengers” caused the over two-hour delay, during which “the crew achieved their permitted flight hours” and that overnight accommodation and transport were provided to passengers before they departed the next day.