Mersey pair try to open plane door at 30,000ft

Jul 26 2008

liverpool waterfront

A plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Frankfurt after two British women believed to be from Merseyside tried to open a cabin door mid-flight, police said.

The women were drinking on board a tourist flight from Kos in Greece to Manchester on Wednesday afternoon when they became rowdy.

The plane made an emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport in Germany and the women were held in their seats by security staff until their arrest, Hartmut Scherer, a spokesman for the city’s police force said.

Police said the women, aged 26 and 27, became violent because they were refused more alcohol when the plane was 30,000ft over Austria.

During the incident, the 26-year-old also attacked a flight attendant with a bottle of vodka.

Mr Scherer said: “Both the women drunk a lot of alcohol on the plane and it was a risk because they made some trouble.

“The captain thought it was better to make an unscheduled stop in Frankfurt and get them off the plane.

“They wanted to open a door in the plane but that was not possible and someone from the security held them in their seats until the landing.”

The plane landed at 4.45pm and after a delay of two hours the remaining passengers were allowed to continue home.

The women were questioned by police but released and allowed to return to the UK.

Mr Scherer said police were deciding whether to press charges and the women could also be fined or forced to pay compensation.

A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said the incident happened on an XL Airways charter flight.

It was reported last month that an XL Airways flight from Glasgow to Dalaman, Turkey, had to turn back to Scotland after two drunken passengers fought.

XL Airways flies to 50 destinations from 12 UK airports.

According to The People, the ponytailed Britons still in their holiday clothes were thought to be from Merseyside.

Student Nathan Sivajoti, 18, or Wetherby, West Yorks, said: “They were really loud and foul-mouthed.

“A family with children asked them to tone down their language. The girls started shouting and it escalated from there. Stewards tried to calm it down. The pilot came on and said, ’We’ll kick you off and we’re over Serbia - and the police in Serbia aren’t nice’.

“But they didn’t calm down and started shouting at other passengers. They were calling one of the stewards names. One of them said, ’I want a piece of him’. Then they started having a go at a ginger passenger.

“But the worst came when one of them slapped a mum. The pilot then said he was landing and one girl tried to light a cigarette but was stopped. One of them tried to open the door but the pressure was too great.”