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Photo taken from a video grab shows group of passengers assault another traveller onboard a ThaiSmile aircraft. Twitter/@Vinamralongani
A group of passengers slapped another traveller onboard a ThaiSmile aircraft at least 20 times, pulled his hair, and punched him as their flight was getting ready for take-off from Bangkok to Kolkata. Yet the airline didn’t deem the incident a security risk and decided to resume the journey after a short delay.
According to the incident report filed by the airline, on December 26 at around 5 pm local time, a bunch of passengers assaulted a co-traveller as the flight was getting ready for take-off after the latter refused to follow safety instructions by the cabin crew and straighten his seatback.
The passenger complained that he suffered from a backache and declined to comply with the cabin crew’s requests.
The flight attendant explained to the passenger that a reclined seatback posed a safety risk as during evacuation it could block the movement of passengers seated behind him, and would also prevent the occupant of the seat from performing a brace position during an emergency.
But the passenger, who was seated on seat 37C, continued to disobey the airline staff, and also refused to fasten his seatbelt.
This behaviour led to another passenger getting agitated, who then approached the occupant of seat 37C and started slapping the man nonstop. He was then joined by at least three other passengers who also slapped the man and punched him as he was grabbed by his hair.
In a video that went viral on social media, the cabin crew can be seen running in the aisle towards the public service announcement equipment and appealing to the passengers and asking them to “please, stop”.
Amidst the melee, the Captain delayed the take-off until the passengers returned to their seats. Subsequently, the pilots resumed the journey.
The airline in its report didn’t consider the incident or the passengers a safety risk, nor did it take any corrective measure such as reporting the passengers to the local police on landing in Kolkata. The airlines comments in the columns on risk analysis and corrective action in the incident report read “not available”.
“The aircraft involved is a foreign registered one, the airline is also a foreign airline and the incident happened on foreign soil. As per Chicago convention, we have no powers in such a matter,” Director-General at Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Arun Kumar told The Hindu.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has filed a police complaint at the Kolkata airport police station against the passengers involved in a brawl aboard the Thai Smile flight from Bangkok to Kolkata on December 26. The complaint is also against the passenger who was beaten up after he disobeyed the safety instruction.
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