EasyJet flight makes emergency landing after female passenger, 16, ‘threatened to stab cabin crew and tried to open plane door in row over 10-year-old girl’s coughing’

Terrified passengers on an easyJet flight from Turkey to Gatwick were forced to endure an emergency landing after claiming a teenage girl flew into a rage when she got into a fight with a ten-year-old child over her cough.

Travelers on board the plane, which had to make an unscheduled stop in Italy, were said to have been ‘physically ill’ and ‘fell into the toilet’ when the 16-year-old allegedly threatened to stab the cabin crew.

It meant that the EasyJet plane flying from Antalya to Gatwick on Friday evening could not land at the British airport and had to land in Bari instead.

Eyewitnesses claim that the teenage girl used language such as “get out of my face,” causing other passengers to cry and be sad, including the little girl’s mother with whom she apparently lost her patience.

Nadine, 39, from Reading, was on board the plane with her daughter Jernai, 19, when the carnage ensued and the couple described it as a ‘fight from hell’ that ruined their Christmas.

Nadine told The Sun: ‘We went to Turkey at Christmas where we had a really lovely holiday at a hotel called Aska Lara.

‘We were all relaxed, but on the flight home it became hell. It ruined my Christmas.

“So this 16-year-old was sitting about four rows behind me and she was sitting next to a little girl about 10 years old who started coughing and she told her to stop.

‘The little girl went to the toilet, but the older girl followed her into the toilet.

‘The girl kept having outbursts and saying, ‘Get out of my face,’ but she wouldn’t let her out.

“Then the mother went downstairs and the teenage girl screamed in her face.

“The mother and the little girl were crying, so the crew walked the girl and her mother to the front of the plane to get away from her.”

Nadine added that the teenage girl repeatedly “ignored airline crew requests to return to her seat and instead shouted profanities.”

The mother recalled: ‘She just started shouting abuse at the crew members and then stormed to the back of the plane.

‘She tried to open the door and broke the handle. The crew members pulled her away and restrained her.

‘She was surrounded by all the crew members, but one tried to calm her down.

‘She started shouting in the plane and threatened to stab a crew member.

“This all happened in the middle of the plane, while they were trying to get her away from the door.

“I was sitting in the front and she came running through the plane and I saw her running through the plane.”

It is reported that a woman then ‘fell into the toilet’ as a result of the outburst after the teenager flew forward into the toilet door.

Nadine said: ‘She flew forward into the toilet door but someone came out of the toilet.

“She fell into the woman who fell into the toilet and the pilot’s door was thrown open.”

‘At one point she took off her shoes and threw them at passengers. Everyone was so nervous.

‘People got upset and stood up. Finally they managed to get the girl to sit down.

‘But for safety reasons the pilot had to announce that we were going to make an emergency landing and lower the plane.

“The girl was flying with her mother and her grandmother.”

Nadine also told the Sun she was angry with Easyjet for not apologizing after everyone was sent off the plane at Bari airport and taken to hotel rooms.

She said: ‘It was absolute hell. Easyjet didn’t care about us on the plane. They left us without water.

“The pilot was tired and he said he had to land for safety reasons because a passenger had breached security.

“We were asked to go to the airport, and when we landed, there were firefighters, maintenance workers and police.

‘The police started collecting statements. The girl who caused the scene was arrested.

‘You can imagine how disturbing it all was. It was just me and my daughter, I was crying.”

Nadine then talked about how she was physically ill in the hotel room

She said: ‘When we arrived at the hotel in Bari we were shocked.

‘When we turned on the tap, the water was misty and we hadn’t had a drink in hours.

‘I went in and was sick on the floor. We had two single beds, the sheets were filthy.

‘The room was freezing with just a small radiator that didn’t even work.

“Don’t get me started on the bathroom with all the mold on the floor. The door didn’t even lock. There was a crying baby next door.

‘The next morning I saw the hotel in the light, what a mess! There were broken windows and trash piling up.”

‘Easyjet has not apologized. There has been no compensation.

‘My daughter Jernai is 19 and she is afraid to leave again. She is traumatized by the experience.

‘It ruined my Christmas. We got in at 12:50 and I fell into my own bed.

‘I’m sick because it was so cold in the room. I have asthma and COPD and can’t go outside for the rest of my Christmas.

“My family all went back to the Caribbean and I couldn’t see them because I was too sick.

‘It was just stress, I had a headache, I’m really relieved to be home. I’ve never been so happy to be home.

‘I don’t think I’ll go on holiday for at least another year after this because I was so scared of it.’

She claimed she had emailed Easyjet but had not yet received a response.

Easyjet told The Sun: ‘Flight EZY8556 from Antalya to London Gatwick on December 27 was diverted to Bari.

‘The police discovered that a passenger was behaving disruptively on board.

‘EasyJet cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and acted quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers was not compromised at any time.

‘Although such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously and will not tolerate abusive or threatening behavior on board.

‘As this resulted in the crew feeling unfit to operate, the flight was postponed overnight and was due to operate the following day.

‘The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is always easyJet’s priority.

‘While this was beyond our control, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

“We have made every effort to minimize the impact of the diversion by providing hotel accommodation and meals.

‘We have informed customers that we will reimburse the costs incurred.’