Drama on easyJet flight to Manchester as woman 'grabs emergency exit' and 'screams about bomb'
An 'erratic' passenger caused an easyJet flight to Manchester Airport to land in Germany after 'grabbing the emergency exit'.
A witness told the Manchester Evening News how an 'erratic' woman who was travelling alone caused havoc on board a flight from Dalaman, in Turkey, on Saturday night (May 24).
The woman reportedly screamed that there was 'a bomb' on the flight, before grabbing the emergency exit door and reaching for life jackets.
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It's claimed she was then 'wrestled away' before the flight made an emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport.
EasyJet confirmed that a 'disruptive' passenger had led to flight EZY2148 being diverted to Frankfurt.
A passenger sitting close to the emergency exit, who asked not to be named, told the M.E.N.: "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 passenger claims the woman then disturbed a couple, telling them the plane was 'going down', before reaching for the emergency exit.
The passenger added: "She then quickly jumped up and grabbed the emergency exit door handle cover and ripped it off.
"She then went for the handle but was stopped by other passengers.
"It took three males to wrestle the woman away from the emergency exit.
"She was then taken the back of the plane by cabin crew and we were alerted that the plane would be doing an emergency landing."
The flight had been due to leave Dalaman at 11pm, but departed at midnight local time.
It landed at Frankfurt Airport at around 2.30am, when emergency services were seen boarding the flight.
It's understood an investigation has been launched involving authorities in Germany.
Passengers were reportedly kept on board the flight for a number of hours, before being allowed to leave for the airport at around 5am.
An 'airport curfew' meant the flight could not depart Frankfurt until later today, with the flight arriving in Manchester at 1.40pm, according to easyJet's website.
An easyJet spokesperson said: "Flight EZY2148 from Dalaman to Manchester on May 24 diverted to Frankfurt due to a passenger behaving disruptively onboard.
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"Unfortunately, due to the airport curfew, the flight had to be delayed overnight and has since continued 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."
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