Drunk passengers on a flight can be annoying enough as it is, so when one attempts to open the plane door mid-flight you can imagine how quickly ‘annoying’ would turn to ‘terrifying’.
This is the situation some people found themselves in recently as they were flying on a packed plane to Thailand, when a ‘wild hooligan’ began his rampage.
The situation got so out of hand it took seven people – including tourists and the crew – to pin down the drunk Russian passenger, even using cling film in an attempt to restrain him.
You can watch one passenger’s response to the incident below:
The man, who was also accused of abusing female flight attendants, was eventually handed over to police after being held by staff in a gangway before the pilot was forced to do an emergency landing.
The trouble began several hours after the plane took off from Moscow, when passengers watched in horror as the intoxicated man attempted to open an emergency door at 33,000 feet.
Elena Demidova, a TV reporter on the flight, said in a video filmed on board the plane:
The first half of the flight was normal, but then I noticed strange activity among stewardesses. People in the cabin were whispering to each other that a doctor was called for somebody.
Then on the intercom they asked if anybody had plastic food wrap. Suddenly the sign ‘fasten your seat belts’ began to flash. Why? Minutes later the captain explained a passenger in the rear of the plane was drunk and rowdy.
A doctor tried to calm him. Then tougher measures were taken. They tried to use plastic food wrap to tie him. Seven people were holding him, but nothing helped.
Russian transport police confirmed the ‘air hooligan’ was handed over to Uzbek police in Tashkent, with an official for the Moscow Multi-Regional Transport Investigative Department, Elena Markovskaya, confirming the man had ‘made the flight really uncomfortable for other passengers’.
After a four-hour delay in Tashkent, the flight continued – but not without further issues. Once the flight took off again for Phuket, there were two further security incidents on the plane.
A blazing row between two ‘drunk’ passengers led to them being forcibly separated, while another man insisted on breaking the law and smoking in the toilet, leading to him being handed over to Thai police when the Nordwind Airline Boeing 777 reached its final destination.
Thankfully, no one was hurt in the multiple incidents.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).