A flight from Mexico to London was forced to divert and land in Maine after two passengers on board began fighting, officials said.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when the Gatwick-bound TUI Airways flight from Cancun with 267 passengers on board had to seek an emergency landing due to the scuffle.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight made an emergency landing around 9.30pm EST on Tuesday. As a result of the unscheduled stopover, the 267 passengers were forced to spend the night in Bangor in Maine.
According to the audio recordings of the pilot, when the scuffle broke out on board, the officials at the air traffic control were able to direct the flight to the runway within a matter of minutes.
“Cockpit is secure and there’s two passengers fighting and the crew has pretty much gotten them under control,” the pilot said.
One of the passengers said the pilot alerted them about an hour into the flight that two people had been caught “smoking in the toilet”, warning that he would be forced to make an unscheduled landing if they didn’t stop, according to the New York Post.
The pair refused to stop smoking on board.
The passenger said the pilot confirmed diversion of the plane to Bangor, Maine, about three hours later, when the flight was around the border with Canada. The plane landed around 9.30pm in Maine, after which the airport authorities escorted them off the plane.
“They were obviously drunk, and he basically assaulted his partner,” the passenger on the TUI flight told New York Post.
He added that the layover was also uncomfortable for the other passengers who were on an unplanned layover, had to face taxing issues and were later told they had to spend the night in Maine due to flight plans.
Additionally, the crew on board was also due for a time by the flight landed in the coastal US state. In order to facilitate the next flight, airlines brought in a relief crew, and the flight took off at 3pm EST on Wednesday.
The flight landed safely at Gatwick Airport in London on Wednesday.
However, the passengers who sparred on the flight, causing it to face diversion, did not face any criminal charges. Both of them were “returned to their home countries on separate outbound flights”, reported the BBC.
“This incident involved a foreign-to-foreign flight that was diverted due to an in-flight altercation between two passengers,” a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson said, the report added.
“Upon arrival, CBP officers removed both individuals from the aircraft. Although no criminal charges were filed, CBP processed the two subjects for expedited removal,” it said.
The Independent has contacted TUI Airways for comment.
