Carnage ensued on a flight from Australia to Qatar when two men turned violent and had to be handcuffed while mid-air.
The passengers were aboard Qatar Airways flight VA7 on Friday, which departed from Melbourne and was headed to Doha.
Fellow travellers described the ‘very scary’ moment the pair became ‘agitated’, praising the flight attendants for taking matters into their own hands.
Footage shared with Australian news outlets captured the crew controlling the situation, with one witness saying they spent ’10 hours straight’ restraining the passengers.
It’s reported that the individuals in question grew irritable shortly after boarding and kept trying to get out of their seats, move through the cabin, and search through their luggage.
Around six hours before landing, the incident escalated; the men allegedly started fighting and became abusive towards others and the crew.
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While making threats and physically lashing out, they allegedly claimed they had a gun.
One passenger claimed they were ‘screaming about wanting to hurt and shoot people’, while another said they were ‘headbutting and spitting on flight attendants’.
A 63-year-old woman was texting relatives during the frightening ordeal using the plane’s wi-fi and praised a man named James sitting beside her, who ‘jumped across’ to restrain one of the men once things turned nastier.
Each man is said to have required six or seven people to hold them down until the aircraft could land.
‘Terrifying and disgraceful what the poor flight attendants had to deal with,’ one witness said.
Doha police officers met the plane upon landing and arrested the two men, earning a round of applause.
Qatar Airways Group said in a statement: ‘We can confirm that two male passengers were involved in a physical altercation on board flight VA7 from Melbourne to Doha, operated by Qatar Airways.
‘Both passengers were restrained and, upon arrival in Doha, were handed over to local authorities.
‘The safety and well-being of our crew and passengers remain our highest priority.’
This incident comes days after photos of an American Airlines passenger went viral, as he was duct-taped to his seat mid-flight from Dallas to Newark after allegedly shouting racist and homophobic slurs and being physically violent.
He was later identified as estate agent Arthur Lundeen, 67, and has subsequently been fired.
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