PHOTO: Footage from inside the Thomson Airlines plane. (courtesy SWSN)
In one of the more bizarre airline stories of the year, an irate, possibly inebriated woman began screaming for cigarettes and a parachute, unleashed a verbal tirade worthy of a truck driver, and finally took off her prosthetic leg and began hitting the cabin crew on a flight from Tunisia to Scotland on Wednesday.
The disturbing incident happened aboard Thomson Airlines Flight 297, originally scheduled to land in Edinburgh but diverted to London's Gatwick Airport due to the violent episode.
"It sounds funny, but it was not a laughing matter at the time," passenger John Smith told London's Daily Telegraph. "It was serious. She was totally drunk. It was pretty shocking."
The 48-year old woman from Edinburgh was arrested and taken to the Crawley police station under suspicion of using threatening behavior. Police did not confirm whether the woman had been drinking.
A police spokesman told the newspaper that the woman was "(cursing) blue murder, saying she was going to do this and that and the other, so the flight was diverted to Gatwick."
In a statement, Thomson Airways said, "Thomson Airways would like to apologise to passengers for the diversion into Gatwick airport of flight TOM 297 travelling from Enfidha, Tunisia to Edinburgh on 30th July.
Unfortunately a passenger became disruptive on board and as a last resort the captain decided to divert the flight to Gatwick. Upon landing, the aircraft was met by local police and the passenger was removed for questioning.
"We would like to reassure customers that their safety is our priority at all times. Thomson Airways operates a zero tolerance policy with regards to any disruptive behaviour on board and incidents of this type are extremely rare."
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