easyJet flight to Manchester diverts to Germany after woman ‘screams about bomb and grabs emergency exit'
A disruptive passenger caused an easyJet flight travelling to the UK from Turkey to unexpectedly divert to Germany.
Travellers catching the late night flight from Dalaman to Manchester Airport found their flight disrupted by an 'erratic' woman, who tried to grab the emergency exit on the flight.
The woman screamed there was a bomb on the flight before grabbing the emergency exit door and reaching for life jackets, according to the Manchester Evening News.
A passenger sitting close to the emergency exit told the publication: 'Once the plane had took off, she began to run up and down the plane screaming about how it was going down and there was a bomb.
"She also tried to get life jackets and oxygen masks out."
The newspaper reported she was 'wrestled away' by three men before the flight made an emergency landing.
FlightRadar showed that a plane due to leave Dalaman at 11pm on Saturday (24 May) instead departed not long after midnight and was diverted to Frankfurt around 1.30am, when emergency services boarded the flight.
Passengers were then kept on board the flight for a number of hours before being allowed to leave for the airport around 5am.
An easyJet spokesperson said: "Flight EZY2148 from Dalaman to Manchester on 25 May diverted to Frankfurt due to a passenger behaving disruptively onboard. Unfortunately, due to the airport curfew, the flight had to be delayed overnight and is planned to continue to Manchester today.
'Due to limited airport ground handling availability overnight, we are aware that customers were required to remain onboard for longer than usual before they could disembark and we did everything we could to mitigate the impact of the delay. As there was unfortunately limited hotel availability in the area, some customers stayed in the terminal where we provided refreshment vouchers to help make them as comfortable as possible.
'easyJet's cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time. Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard.
"The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet's highest priority.'
German authorities have launched an investigation into the matter.
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