After a passenger was seen on camera punching a member of the cabin crew around nine hours into what should have been an eleven-hour flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, Turkish Airlines was forced to take an emergency diversion.
Pesawat yang seharusnya mendarat di Bandara Soekarno Hatta pukul 18.05 WIB itu mengalami keterlambatan karena seorang penumpang yang merupakan WNI bernama Muhammad John Jaiz Boudewijn (48) mabuk dan menyerang kru pesawat.
video: @kabarpenumpang pic.twitter.com/7NP1N0CYRt
— Catch Me Up! (@catchmeupid) October 12, 2022
Although the cause of the assault is unknown, the cabin crew was already making attempts to subdue the disruptive passenger by the time other passengers began to record what was happening.
A brief video of the event was shared on Twitter, and it shows a member of the cabin crew brandishing a pair of plastic handcuffs as the passenger charges at him and throws a punch.
According to a witness, the incident started when the passenger allegedly threw a bottle of water at a flight attendant.
In the brief video, several members of the cabin crew can be seen rushing to the rescue of their colleague. According to witnesses, the man was restrained before the plane was diverted to Kualanamu International Airport, where law enforcement took the suspect.
The assaulted member of the cabin crew is thought to have sought medical attention but did not sustain major injuries.
After a little more than an hour on the ground, Turkish Airlines flight TK56, a Boeing 777-300, was given the all-clear to resume its flight to Jakarta.
According to local media sources, disorderly behavior on board an aircraft can result in up to a year in jail for the offender. Whether the culprit in this instance has already been charged is unknown.
