A RYANAIR “flight from hell” had to be diverted just 36 minutes into its journey after a “mass brawl” broke out between passengers midair.
Shocking footage shows holidaymakers screaming at each other across the plane while flustered airline staff try to calm them down about 30,000ft up.
A passenger on board the evening flight from Agadir to London Stansted on Wednesday said a row broke out between two families during boarding.
It started when a man, thought to be in his late 20s, asked another passenger to move so he could sit with his wife and young children.
The woman, who was sitting with her own daughter, reportedly refused to budge – prompting the thug to start threatening her.
The flight took off with no problems, but as soon as the seat belt signs came off, the passenger’s husband, understood to be in his 30s, is said to have jumped to his wife’s defence.
Punches were reportedly thrown between the two men while Ryanair staff attempted to intervene.
A Brit on the flight, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “They were trying to punch each other. One of the families was part of a larger group so other passengers started to join in.
“Then a lady in the row behind started to have a panic attack because of everything going on. She was screaming and there were kids crying. It was like a snowball effect.”
The 36-year-old finance worker from Herts added: “We were only in the air for 36 minutes before we had to do an unexpected landing. It was so stressful.
“It was like the flight from hell. And it all escalated from that one passenger wanting to change seats.”
When the plane landed in Marrakech, it was met by Moroccan police who marched the nine people involved in the scrap off the plane.
To make matters worse, during the scuffle another passenger became ill and had to be given oxygen mid-flight.
He was treated by medics on landing, who deemed him unfit to fly.
But he refused to get off the aircraft and became abusive towards the cabin crew.
In the chaotic mobile phone footage, he can be heard saying: “They think I’m a terrorist. That’s why they’re bringing the whole army here to take me down.
“Give me my f****** bag. I will whack your jaw bruv”.
Other passengers begged him to leave the plane, before he was finally removed by police.
It took more than two hours for Ryanair staff to get all the disruptive holidaymakers off the aircraft, during which time the crew had reached their maximum flying hours.
The remaining 200 or so people on board were bundled into coaches and taken to a local hotel for the night, before being booked onto a flight the following morning.
But the second journey was also cancelled – meaning they didn’t land in Stansted until Thursday evening.
When the cabin crew finally arrived for the return flight, passengers were filmed booing them.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “This flight from Agadir to London Stansted diverted to Marrakesh after a small group of passengers became disruptive, and during which time another passenger became ill onboard.
“Crew called ahead for both medical and police assistance, which met the aircraft upon arrival at Marrakesh.
“The small group of disruptive passengers were then removed from the aircraft by airport gendarmerie.
“The passenger who became ill was provided with oxygen onboard before being treated by airport medics, who determined that they were not fit-to-fly.
“This passenger refused to disembark and became abusive towards crew, and was removed from the aircraft by airport gendarmerie.
“As it took almost two hours in total to treat and offload these disruptive passengers, during which time the rest of the passengers remained onboard, the crew reached their permitted flying hours, and caused the flight to be delayed overnight.
“Affected passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and transport to/from the airport. This flight departed to London the following day.
“We sincerely apologise to passengers for this diversion and subsequent delay caused by a small group of disruptive passengers, which was out of Ryanair’s control.”
