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Police and firefighters surrounded a Saudia Airlines aircraft at Heathrow airport and arrested a male passenger, who allegedly punched a crew member and attempted to open the jet door.
Emergency services rushed to the Boeing 787 shortly after it landed from Jeddah just before 1pm on Thursday. According to The Sun, the plane braked sharply on the taxiway to Terminal 4 after the incident, prompting the pilots to call for immediate assistance.
Stairs were erected and officials boarded the jet, which was carrying passengers on Flight SV119. Pictures obtained by The Sun show at least four fire trucks, six police cars and several ambulances at the scene.
The newspaper reported that the disruption began as the aircraft taxied to its stand. A man argued with a crew member, then struck him before trying to open one of the aircraft doors.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “Officers at London Heathrow Airport were called to an aircraft, which had recently landed at 12:57hrs on Thursday, 28 August following reports of a disturbance.
“Officers arrested a 33-year-old man on suspicion of endangering an aircraft, two counts of assault by beating, behaving in a threatening, abusive or disorderly manner towards a member of aircraft crew and damaging an aircraft.
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He has since been released under investigation as enquiries continue.”
A source told The Sun: “It was chaos on board and very frightening for families. The plane had wheels down but a passenger was so agitated and struck out at the crew because he wanted to get off there and then.”
Police confirmed they had arrested a passenger on suspicion of endangering an aircraft.
The Saudia flight, registered HZ-AR27, left Jeddah 38 minutes late and took just over six hours to reach London.