Siberian Plane Has to Land After Toilet Dispute on Board

NOVOSIBIRSK, December 15 (RIA Novsoti) – A Russian plane had to make an emergency landing in Siberia on Sunday after a drunk passenger beat up a flight attendant in a dispute over toilet, a police spokesman said.

Russian airlines have recently suffered a series of incidents involving rowdy passengers, prompting the country’s lawmakers to push for tougher measures against them.

"The man was an economy class passenger and tried to use a business class toilet, which is prohibited by the rules. He had a spat with a flight attendant and punched him seven or ten times,” Siberian transport police spokesman Timur Kurbangaleyev said.

The passenger, aged 45, was already drunk when he boarded the Moscow-bound plane in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, police said.

The plane had to perform an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, where the flight attendant was hospitalized and diagnosed with a head injury and bruises.

The troublemaker was detained and taken to a Novosibirsk police department.

The plane was refueled and took off about two hours later.

The average fine for unruly in-flight conduct in Russia is about 5,000 rubles ($150).

Lawmakers and airlines have earlier proposed raising fines, installing CCTV cameras on board, creating an official blacklist of misbehaving passengers and banning in-flight alcohol. However, none of the numerous bills submitted to the parliament has been passed so far.

Vladimir Chertok, the deputy chief of Russia’s Federal Service for Transport Supervision (Rostransnadzor), said earlier this week Russia’s transport watchdog is considering raising fines for unruly passengers to thousands of US dollars by obliging them to cover costs caused by their actions.