An AirMexico flight was forced to make an emergency landing during a flight from Mexico City to San Francisco so a passenger could be removed from the fight.
The plane made a detour to the city of Guadalajara, in the western Mexican state of the same name, after the man, who has not been publicly named, reportedly started attacking crew members on Sunday night.
The 144 passengers flying on the Aeromexico flight 664 were delayed after the upheaval, which reportedly began when the man, who was believed to be drunk, started to scream for unknown reasons.
The AirMexico flight made a detour to the city of Guadalajara, in the western Mexican state of the same name, after the man, who has not been publicly named, started attacking crew members
Passenger Laura Aceves said that about half an hour into the flight, flight attendants began pacing up and down the aisles because a passenger ‘was very disruptive’.
‘The crew asked him first to be quiet, but the passenger was harassing people on the plane,’ the 20-year-old told The Mercury News.
‘We landed and you could see (the authorities) through the windows,’ she added.
Footage captured by stunned onlooker shows the moment four security guards try to restrain him after the plane made its emergency landing.
The man can be heard growling and shouting furiously as someone says in the background: ‘He is biting.’
Footage captured by stunned onlooker shows the moment four security guards try to restrain him after the plane made its emergency landing
The man can be heard growling and shouting furiously as authorities tell him to ‘calm down’
One of the guards can be heard saying, ‘Calm down, calm down…’, but the man shows no signs of doing so.
Aceves said that it took between half an hour and 40 minutes to get the man off of the plane.
‘He was hitting and punching other passengers as they were trying to drag him out,’ she said. ‘He was under the influence, and you could smell the alcohol on him.’
Once the man was removed from the flight by authorities, the plane re-readied and headed for San Francisco.
The flight was delayed by an hour because of the diversion.
It is unknown if the man is still in custody.