A Ryanair flight from Agadir, Morocco, to London, Stansted, was forced into an emergency landing on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, after a heated argument over seating arrangements escalated into a physical altercation between passengers.
Trapped in an uncomfortable situation, some of the travelers started having panic attacks and respiratory problems while children cried and the cabin crew scrambled to control the chaos, which took over two hours to subside.
The chaos was sparked by a dispute between two families for a seat
According to the testimony of a witness to The Sun, who asked to remain anonymous, the incident began when a man in his late 20s asked a woman to switch seats so he could sit with his wife and children. The woman, who was sitting with her own daughter and husband, refused, and the situation quickly deteriorated into threats and unintelligible shouting.
Once airborne and as soon as the seat belts were safe to remove, the woman’s husband intervened in her defense, resulting in a physical brawl between the two families. The men started punching each other, and other passengers joined in.
“It was like a flight from hell,” recounts the witness
Seeing the situation get out of the control of the cabin crew, the pilot opted to request medical and security assistance from the nearest airport, which meant he had to divert the plane to Marrakech, Morocco, just 36 minutes into the flight.
“It all escalated from that one passenger wanting to change seats. They were trying to punch each other,” the witness added. “Then a lady in the row behind started to have a panic attack because of everything going on. She was screaming and there were kids crying. It was like a snowball effect.”
The situation became even more complex when another passenger fell ill during the mid-air melee and required oxygen
After landing in Marrakech, medics deemed him unfit to fly, but he refused to disembark and became abusive toward the cabin crew.
At the 40-second mark of the footage provided to The Sun, the passenger can be heard saying, “They think I’m a terrorist. That’s why they’re bringing the whole army here to take me down.”
“Give me my f****** bag. I will whack your jaw, bruv,” he continued as other passengers started begging for him to leave the plane.
Police were called to the scene and removed the disruptive passengers and the unwell man from the aircraft
However, the entire ordeal caused a significant delay. By the time the disruptive passengers were removed and the ill passenger received medical attention, the Ryanair crew had reached their maximum permitted flying hours.
This meant that the remaining passengers were stranded in Marrakech overnight. Ryanair provided them with accommodation and transport, but the inconvenience continued when their rescheduled flight for the next day was canceled.
“We sincerely apologize to passengers for this diversion and subsequent delay caused by a small group of disruptive passengers, which was out of Ryanair’s control,” said a representative of the carrier group.
Passengers finally reached their intended destination, Stansted Airport, on Thursday evening, nearly two days after their original departure time.
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Chaos as passengers attempt to break up fight on #Ryanair flight to #London
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This is far from the first time a physical altercation has erupted onboard a Ryanair flight. On February 19th, 2024, another multi-passenger brawl occurred on a flight from Scotland to Spain. Additionally, in August 2023, a supposedly drunk woman sparked a physical altercation on a trip to Ibiza.
Users reacted to the footage on social media with disgust and disappointment
