Flight Diverted After Drunk Passenger Attacks Crew And Goes On Racist Tirade

A flight from Manchester, England, to Marrakech, Morocco, was forced to divert to Lisbon on Monday after a passenger allegedly assaulted cabin crew members and launched a racist tirade on fellow passengers. Two hundred passengers aboard the easyJet flight were shuttled to nearby hotels before boarding flights the following day.

According to witnesses, the individual appeared to be drunk. It was unclear what sparked the incident, though fellow passengers claimed the unnamed individual was intoxicated prior to boarding the flight with the British budget carrier.

“I have never seen anything like this,” a passenger from Bolton who wished to remain anonymous told the Manchester Evening News. "This passenger appeared to be [drunk] before he boarded the plane and he was given a drink by other passengers consuming their own alcohol.”

“We were only an hour from Marrakech when we could see the plane descending,” the passenger added. “Then the captain spoke and said there had been an incident. Then one of the cabin crew said a passenger had got hold of his neck twice because he was drunk.”

Flight crew said that the individual in question “was being racist to other passengers too,” according to the witness. Upon landing, police reportedly boarded the plane, at which time passengers were told they would have to spend the night in Portugal.

“Around 200 passengers were then bussed to hotels — one of which was an hour away,” the unnamed passenger told the Manchester Evening News.

Hanif Pankhania‏, who appeared to be on the diverted flight, tweeted a video of the individual being apprehended Monday, writing, “Well played @easyJet for letting pissed passengers on a flight that racially abuse cabin members and disrupting people's hols to Marrakech.”

Well played @easyJet for letting pissed passengers on a flight that racially abuse cabin members and disrupting people's hols to Marrakech pic.twitter.com/svr5c5Umk9

— Hanif Pankhania (@HanifPank) September 16, 2017

Replying to Pankhania‏’s tweet, user Amy Goy wrote Monday: “We are now stuck in Marrakesh as our outbound flight cancelled. We had drunk people vomiting on our outbound flight also. This is ridiculous.”

A spokesperson for the airline confirmed the incident to International Business Times in a Tuesday statement.

“The aircraft was met by the police upon arrival,” the spokesperson said. “easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time. Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously, do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard and always push for prosecution.

“The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet's priority. Unfortunately easyJet had to delay the flight overnight. All affected passengers were communicated with regularly and every effort was made to minimise the impact of the delay. Refreshment vouchers and hotel accommodation were provided to our passengers. We would like to thank the passengers for their understanding and apologise sincerely for any inconvenience experienced.”