A scary incident took place Thursday on a Ryanair flight from Brussels to Malta when a huge brawl broke out 30,000 feet in the air. An eyewitness video has emerged online, which according to The Sun, was shot by passenger Tommy Engerer, a software engineer from Malta. In it, a group of men can be seen fighting at the center of what looks like a chaotic scene. Passengers are looking on, and women can be heard screaming. Eventually, the pilot makes an announcement that the plane would be making an emergency landing, and that the behavior of those involved was “not acceptable at all.”
Engerer called the situation “terrifying” and said that it began when an elderly woman was hit on the head while moving seats. Two Belgian men “tried to intervene,” and that’s when all hell broke loose. Because the fight continued to escalate, Engerer said that the fear among passengers was that the men “might be trying to open the doors and might bring the plane down." He described the culprits as “Eastern European—gypsy types—but spoke a bit of French as well and were incredibly aggressive." He also said that they appeared to have been under the influence of either alcohol or drugs.
“They were attacking everyone around them and one of the men even slapped a stewardess in the face," Engerer continued. “It was chaos for about 10 minutes until there was an announcement that the plane was being diverted and passengers managed to restrain them with belts."
Upon landing in Pisa, Italy, four men were arrested for their roles in the brawl. “We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behavior at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority,” a spokesperson for UK-based budget airline said. “This is now a matter for local police."
