'I want cigarettes and a parachute!': Thomson flight from Tunisia diverted to Gatwick after 'drunk woman attacks cabin crew with her prosthetic leg'

  • Plane was flying from Tunisia to Edinburgh when incident occurred
  • Woman, 48, was allegedly drunk and abusing cabin crew
  • Passenger claims she unfastened her prosthetic leg and waved it at them
  • Plane was delayed at Gatwick while police asked for witness statements 

By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Pilots were forced to divert a plane after a drunk passenger threw her prosthetic leg at members of the cabin crew.

After her demands for ‘cigarettes and a parachute’ were denied by stewards, the  48-year-old took off the false limb and hurled it at them in a fit of rage.

The crew managed to restrain her, but Thomson Flight 297 from Enfidha, Tunisia, to Edinburgh had to be diverted to Gatwick, where it made an emergency landing.

Mid-air incident: Police boarding the Thomson flight after it was diverted to Gatwick airport

Mid-air incident: Police boarding the Thomson flight after it was diverted to Gatwick airport

Police escorted the jobless troublemaker from the plane and arrested her on suspicion of using threatening behaviour – as relieved passengers broke into a rendition of the Hokey Cokey.

A police spokesman said: ‘She was swearing blue murder, saying she was going to do this and that... so the flight was diverted.’

Yesterday passenger John Smith, 48, said: ‘She was off her face on drink.

Grounded: The plane was delayed by another hour as police collected statements from witnesses on board

Grounded: The plane was delayed by another hour as police collected statements from witnesses on board

‘She was shouting, “I want cigarettes” and that she wanted a parachute to jump off the plane. She slapped a young girl and  then assaulted the cabin crew with her prosthetic leg.

‘They took it off her, but she started kicking them with her good leg. It sounds funny, but it was not a laughing matter at the time … We had to sit on the runway for about an hour while the police took statements … She was totally drunk. It was pretty shocking.’

Mr Smith, a labourer from Falkirk, said some passengers were ‘extremely upset’ by the incident, adding: ‘A woman who was in the same hotel as her told me that she had kicked off on the bus transfer from hotel to airport. The bus driver even threatened to put her off the bus.’

The incident happened on Wednesday night on board Thomson's Enfidha, Tunisia, to Edinburgh flight (file photo)

The incident happened on Wednesday night on board Thomson's Enfidha, Tunisia, to Edinburgh flight (file photo)

The flight had been due to arrive in Edinburgh at around 11.30pm on Wednesday but did not arrive until 2.30am yesterday.

A Thomson Airways spokesman apologised for the diversion – a ‘last resort’ by the plane’s captain – and said it had a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to disruptive behaviour on flights.

Gatwick Airport

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