Intoxicated Passenger Creates Ruckus On Flight, Punches Cabin Crew [Video]

An intoxicated passenger created a ruckus and reportedly bit the finger of a cabin crew member on a Jakarta-bound flight. He also punched the cabin crew members, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.

The incident took place on a Turkish Airlines flight that was traveling from Istanbul to Jakarta on Oct. 12, Free Press Journal reported. The video of the entire brawl between the drunk passenger and cabin crew was recorded by another traveler on the flight.

The passenger was identified as 48-year-old Muhammad John Jaiz Boudewijn, a pilot with the Indonesian airline Batik Air, a subsidiary of Lion Air Group. Boudewijn was reportedly drunk on the Boeing 777 and was urged to stay calm during the flight by the cabin crew. However, he reacted furiously to the cabin crew's request and even bit the finger of one of the flight attendants, India Today reported.

The now-viral video shows ugly scenes of punches and kicks between the Indonesian passenger and cabin crew members. In the video, the passenger can be seen punching a flight attendant holding what appears to be plastic handcuffs. The flight attendant retaliates by throwing some kicks at the passenger. At that moment, other members of the cabin crew are seen rushing to control the situation.

The brawl resulted in the 11-hour flight getting diverted after nine hours of being in the air and making an emergency landing at the Kualanamu Airport in Medan, the capital of Indonesia's North Sumatra province.

"It was forced to land in Kualanamu Airport because there was a passenger who caused a scene by creating a disturbance," Soekarno-Hatta Airport police chief Sigit Dani Setiyono told local media.

"Turkish Airlines dropped the Indonesian passenger who was injured at Kualanamu Airport," a spokesperson for the Jakarta Metro Police said. "The Indonesian citizen who was suspected of being drunk is undergoing treatment at Kualanamu Health Clinic."

Lion Air also confirmed the identity of Boudewijn as their employee. However, it affirmed that his actions do not reflect the company's values, according to a local news outlet.

The incident comes days after a female passenger hurled abuses at the cabin crew and threw a water bottle at a passenger on a New York-bound flight after she was asked to get off the plane. The woman argued with the cabin crew after she was asked to remove her dog from her lap on the flight.