Friday, July 12, 2013

Unaccompanied person with Down syndrome wreaks havoc on Saudi flight

from Emirates 24/7:
A Saudi man with Down syndrome travelling on his own wreaked havoc on a Saudi flight en route to Jordan on Sunday, after trying to strangle an Asian woman and attacking other passengers, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The adult man also kicked the service trolley to send bottles and food all over the floor before grabbing a plastic knife and attacking another passenger, the Arabic language daily Sabq said, quoting passengers and crew members.

The incident began when the crew members began serving dinner aboard flight 633 from Riyadh to the Jordanian capital Amman, the Saudi Sabq daily said.

When they tried to serve that man, he kicked the trolley very hard, sending dishes, bottles and food on the floor and causing panic among many passengers, it said.

The crew members tried to calm him but he later lunged on an Asian woman sat next to him and tried to strangle her, prompting her to scream and causing more panic in the aircraft. 
After the woman was moved to another seat, the man assailed another passenger and tried to punch him but was again restrained by the crew.

“He then grabbed a plastic knife which had fallen off the trolley and tried to hit that passenger. The crew and other passengers overpowered him and called the captain to talk to him, but he kept swearing and verbally abusing the captain,” it said.

“The captain then asked one big passenger to sit next to this man. The passenger managed to overpower that man and kept him calm until the aircraft landed in Amman.
“It was still not know how a man with Down syndrome was allowed to travel on his own in violation of flight rules.”

The paper quoted Saudi Airlines officials as saying they were investigating the incident and how that passenger was allowed on board without a guardian.

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