‘Shocking’: Jet2 flight diverted to Brussels after brawl in mid-air over racist remarks directed at Pakistani passenger

A Jet2 flight (LS896) from Antalya, Turkey to Manchester, England, had to make an emergency landing in Belgium after two passengers started punching and kicking each other, while other passengers screamed. Jet2 called their actions “appalling” and said the two passengers would be banned from flying for life.It all started when a passenger made a racist comment loud enough for the passenger sitting next to him to hear it. The man was drunk on the plane, but witnesses said he was not drunk and gibbering; He knew exactly what he was talking about. Initially, everyone ignored it. But the passenger later became aggressive because he was unable to buy cigarettes from the crew. He then targeted nearby Pakistani passengers, The Sun reported. Soon it became a battlefield, with some reports saying passengers saw blood on the seats and teeth on the floor. The pilot had to make an emergency landing in Brussels and the two passengers disembarked. The pilot told everyone on board that he had 30 years of flying experience but had never seen anything like this. “I just got home from a bad flight and am still in shock, like so many other passengers. What was supposed to be an easy journey turned into one of the most traumatic experiences we have ever had. From the very beginning of the flight, a passenger sitting behind us started making racist remarks, quietly enough for others to not hear, but loud enough Big enough for us to hear. We chose to ignore it at first but it didn’t escalate. Even though he was drinking on the plane he was fully aware of what he was saying and we were thousands of feet in the air and the situation escalated,” one passenger said on social media.