Spanish police stormed an easyJet flight travelling to the Canary Islands after reports of “eight violent passengers” on the plane.
Flight EZY34TV left Manchester just after 7am and was headed to Tenerife – but it had to be diverted to Lanzarote, touching down around 1.20pm local time. Police met the plane when it landed, the Mirror reports.
In a short statement via Twitter, Spanish Air Traffic Controllers said: “The crew of a flight from Manchester to Tenerife South has informed us of the presence of eight violent passengers on board.
“Given the possibility of attacks, they have requested a detour to Lanzarote.”
The flight took off again just under 90 minutes later.
Four men, who were said to be drunk, have been reported to authorities following the incident according to local reports.
Those identified now face potential fines from the Spanish authorities and could also potentially be banned from using the airline again.
In a statement to the Mirror, easyjet confirmed one of its flights from Manchester to Tenerife had been diverted to Lanzarote before continuing its journey.
An airline spokesperson said: “easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
“Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour towards our crew or other passengers.
“We would like to apologise to the other passengers for any inconvenience caused. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers, crew and ground agents is always easyJet’s priority.”
