Unruly man forces flight to land in Broome

November 21, 2010 - 4:44PM

AAP

A passenger's unruly behaviour forced a flight from Bali to Melbourne to make an unscheduled landing in Broome on Sunday.

The 148 passengers on the Virgin Blue flight were stranded for several hours in Broome.

One passenger, Katie Payne, said his behaviour caused the pilot and flight crew to fear for the safety of those on board and the plane was diverted to Broome, where it was met by police at 1am (WST).
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Ms Payne said two prison guards on board the flight helped the crew handcuff the man and take him to the back of the plane.

"He was becoming increasingly aggressive to the point where the pilot and the crew feared for the other passengers' safety," she told the ABC Radio.

"The staff on board were trying to keep us calm while it was all happening because it was a pretty unusual and quite frightening circumstance."

One of the off-duty prison guards, Mark Cornell, said the man was acting so aggressively they had difficulty trying to restrain him to his seat.

"He had his arms up in the air, he was twisting and he had slight muscle spasms at the time," Mr Cornell told ABC Radio.

"By the time we landed his muscle spasms were ... almost violent and we were having trouble actually keeping him pinned to the seat."

Virgin Blue spokeswoman Melissa Thomson said the man was handcuffed because he disobeyed instructions and requests by the crew.

Sergeant Geoff Dorrington, of Broome police, said the passenger, a 40-year-old Melbourne man, did not threaten anyone on the plane but had displayed "bizarre" behaviour that had alarmed passengers and crew.

"He has an undiagnosed mental condition and has been admitted to hospital," he told AAP.

"He will be flown to Perth for treatment."

He did not appear to have been affected by drugs and would not face criminal charge, Sgt Dorrington said.

Ms Thomson said the 148 passengers had been put up in hotels and would be flown back to Melbourne later on Sunday.

An engineer had to be flown from Perth to check the plane, which was reported to have made a heavy landing.

© 2010 AAP http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/unruly-man-forces-flight-to-land-in-broome-20101121-182av.html