- Were you a passenger on Ryanair flight RUK3034 from Morocco to London on Wednesday? Contact chris.jewers@mailonline.co.uk share your story
Last week, a mass brawl broke out on a Ryanair flight from Morocco to London, forcing the plane to divert just 36 minutes into the journey.
Video from inside the cabin shows passengers shouting at each other in a row that was allegedly ignited when a family asked to switch seats.
Visibly worried cabin crew try to calm passengers as the plane climbs at 30,000 feet.
The plane was traveling from Agadir to London Stansted on Wednesday night when an argument broke out between two families as people were boarding, a witness said.
The passenger said the man, who is in his early 20s, asked another passenger to move so he could sit with his wife and children, The Sun reports.
However, the other passenger – a woman who was sitting with her own daughter – reportedly refused to move behind the man who became angry with her.
The witness said the enraged man began threatening the women.
Despite this, the plane took off without issue, but as soon as the seat belt signs were switched off, the woman’s husband – said to be in his 30s – jumped to his wife’s defence.
The two men threw punches at each other, the witness said, while Ryanair staff tried to intervene to break up the fight.
“They were trying to punch each other,” a British passenger told The Sun anonymously, adding that it led to a mass brawl.
“One of the families was part of a larger group, so more passengers started to join.
“Then the lady in line behind her started having a panic attack because of everything that was going on. She screamed and the children cried.
“It was like a snowball effect,” said the 36-year-old passenger, describing the journey as “an escape from hell”.
“It all escalated from one passenger wanting to change seats,” they added.
The plane was diverted and landed in Marrakesh about 30 minutes after takeoff.
Flight tracking website FlightAware showed the path of flight RUK3034 as it took off from Agadir, a city on the southern Atlantic coast of Morocco.
The radar map shows the plane traveling north before making a sharp turn to the east before landing in Marrakesh, 127 miles northeast of where it took off.
Moroccan police met the plane and removed the nine people involved in scrapping the cabin from the plane.
To add to the chaos, another passenger became ill during the fight and had to be given oxygen during the flight. He was treated by doctors who determined he was unfit to fly.
The unhealthy man then behaved rudely towards the flight attendant and refused to get off, which was also captured on mobile phone footage.
He is heard saying that the crew ‘think I’m a terrorist’, adding: ‘that’s why they’re bringing the whole army in here to shoot me down’.
He is also heard threatening: “Give me my damn bag. I will break your jaw when the other passengers begged him to get off the plane.
He was also removed by the police.
In the two hours it took cabin crew and police to remove the disruptive passengers from the plane, the staff reached their maximum working hours for the day.
This meant that all passengers had to get off the plane, herded into a bus and taken to a hotel where they stayed overnight.
They were all booked on another flight the following day, which was also cancelled, meaning they didn’t arrive at Stanstead until Thursday evening.
In a statement to MailOnline, Ryanair confirmed the series of events and apologized for the “diversion and subsequent delay caused by a small group of disruptive passengers”, saying it was beyond the airline’s control.
“This flight from Agadir to London Stansted (July 3) was diverted to Marrakesh after a small group of passengers became disruptive and other passengers on board became ill during this time,” the statement said.
“The crew called in advance for medical and police assistance, which met the plane upon arrival in Marrakesh. A small group of disruptive passengers were then removed from the plane by airport police.
“The passenger who fell ill was given oxygen on board before being treated by airport paramedics who found him unfit to fly.
“This passenger refused to disembark and started insulting the crew and was also removed from the plane by airport police.
“As it took almost 2 hours in total to treat and disembark these disruptive passengers, the crew reached their permitted flight hours and the flight was delayed overnight.
Affected passengers were provided with overnight accommodation and transport to/from the airport. This flight departed for London the following day (July 4).
“We sincerely apologize to passengers for this diversion and subsequent delay caused by a small group of disruptive passengers which was beyond Ryanair’s control,” the statement added.