Ethiopian Airlines plane makes emergency landing in Lahore after midair brawl

An Ethiopian Airlines plane on Saturday made an emergency landing in Lahore when a Chinese man attacked his co-passengers on board and injured them.

Upon landing at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, the crew called in officials from the Chinese Consulate and handed over the passenger.

The crew described the passenger to be “mentally deranged”.

“The Boeing 777 carrying more than 300 passengers was heading to Beijing from Addis Ababa when a Chinese passenger had a brawl with more than five passengers. He and a couple of other passengers also suffered minor injuries,” an official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told PTI.

He said the Chinese passenger got out of control after he had an argument with a passenger sitting next to him.

“He got violent and started punching the fellow passenger. Those tried to intervene he also lashed them,” he said.

The official said as the crew failed to handle the ‘mentally deranged’ Chinese passenger, the pilot contacted the CAA authorities and requested for emergency landing.

“Upon emergency landing at Lahore, the Airport Security Force officials took unruly passenger into custody. A couple of passengers with minor injury were also provided with medical aid at the airport,” he said.

The official further said the Chinese Consulate officials were called in and the Chinese passenger was handed over to them for further investigation.

The plane left for its destination after a four-hour halt.