A senior citizen travelling in the business class of an Air India flight from Newark, United States, to Mumbai suffered a panic attack on Wednesday causing trouble to the crew and fellow passengers. During the anxiety attack, which lasted for about seven hours, the passenger abused the crew, screamed, attacked his wife and demanded the flight doors be opened. Eventually, he was sedated with the help of doctors.
The business class passenger, as described by an eyewitness, was about 6 feet tall and in his 70s, the Times of India reported.
Passengers stated that the man abused the crew for several hours and screamed for the aircraft door to be opened so he could disembark.
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Eyewitness Pravin Tonsekar, who was on the same flight, told TOI that the man attacked his wife and tried to strangle her on three separate occasions.
“He was about 6 feet tall, probably in his seventies, and he appeared to be physically fit. Then, all of a sudden, he started to scream, yell and shout in panic, saying he wanted to disembark,” Tonsekar recalled.
His wife ultimately had to hide in the economy class. He eventually had to be physically restrained for the safety of other passengers.
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As per the report, the violent episode lasted so long that the second batch of crew members, who were yet to come on duty, also stepped in to try and calm him down.
After several failed attempts by crew members and co-passengers to pacify him, the crew finally asked two doctors onboard for help. The doctors calmed him down by administering sedatives.
The passenger’s wife informed the doctors that he had not taken anxiety medicines, which he was supposed to have after the take-off.
After the man was sedated, the flight progressed without interruption and landed in Mumbai.
Air India has not released a statement or any comment on the incident yet.
Recently, several incidents involving drunk or unruly passengers aboard international flights, especially to the US, have been reported. Most of these cases involved inebriated passengers.
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