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02nd May 2019

Fights break out amongst inebriated passengers travelling from Dublin to music festival

Conor Heneghan

One passenger is reported to have walked down the aisle of the plane offering a bottle of vodka for other passengers to drink from.

Several fights are reported to have broken out amongst “disruptive” passengers, many of whom were travelling to the AMP Lost and Found Festival, on a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Malta on Tuesday.

One passenger is reported to have been pinned to the ground by two fellow passengers for a long part of the flight, while another is believed to have been held up to a window of the plane by his neck during the trip.

Ryanair has since confirmed that a number of individuals travelling on the flight were removed from the plane and subsequently detained by police upon arrival in Malta.

Speaking to RTÉ News at One on Wednesday, journalist Kieran Dineen, who was on the flight, also claimed that a large number of passengers had congregated at both bathrooms as the drinks carts were located there, while several others were drinking from large bottles of alcohol purchased in the duty-free prior to travel.

One passenger, Dineen claimed, walked through the aisle with a bottle of vodka inviting other passengers to take a drink from it.

Describing the flight as a “scary experience”, Dineen said the flight was late taking off from Dublin as passengers kept jumping out of their seats, while others shouted at stewards and directed hand gestures towards them. The plane eventually took off, he said, to the sound of dance music blaring all over the plane.

Commenting on his experience, Dineen told RTÉ News at One: “Several fights broke out, there was one man pinned to the ground by two other man for a long part of the flight to keep him under control, there was punches thrown, one man was held up to the window of the plane by his neck.”

While Dineen said that events “didn’t quite spill over”, he claimed to RTÉ News at One that Ryanair staff were slow to deal with the disruptions and questioned why alcohol was still being served to passengers for a long part of the flight.

Dineen acknowledged that efforts were made by Ryanair staff to restore order but felt that it was “just too late” and “had got too much out of hand” by the time they attempted to intervene.

Ryanair has since issued a statement which read: “The crew of this flight from Dublin to Malta (30 April) requested police assistance upon arrival after several passengers became disruptive in-flight.

“The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained these individuals. We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This is now a matter for local police.”