Bangkok-Kolkata flight assault incident | Police file complaint against all passengers involved – The Hindu

A group of passengers slapped a co- traveller onboard a THAI Smile aircraft atleast 20 times, pulled his hair and punched him as their flight was getting ready for take off from Bangkok to Kolkata. Yet the airline did not deem the incident a security risk and the pilots resumed the journey after a short delay.

On Thursday, as the video of the in-flight assault went viral on social media, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security stepped in and filed a police complaint against all passengers involved at a police station in Kolkata.

The complaint included Amid Mohammad Hussain, the passenger who was slapped, as well as S.K. Azaruddin who can be seen in the video punching blows incessantly, and a bunch of other passengers involved in the scuffle.

According to the airline’s incident report filed to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, on Dec 26, 2022 at 5 p.m. local time in Bangkok as the THAI Smile flight was preparing for take off, Mr. Husain, who occupied seat 37 C, refused to obey safety instructions by the cabin crew and straighten his seat despite repeated requests . He maintained that he suffered from a backache.

The flight attendant explained to the passenger that a reclined seatback posed a safety risk as during evacuation it could block the movement of passengers seated behind him, and could also prevent the occupant of the seat from performing a brace position (bending forward while seated and putting your hands over your head to brace for an impact )during an emergency, but the passenger remained adamant.

Later, when the seatbelt sign was turned on, the passenger also refused to wear his seatbelt. This behaviour led to another passenger, Mr. Azaruddin, getting agitated, who then approached the occupant of seat 37 C and started slapping the man non stop. He was then joined by atleast three other passengers who also hit the man on his face, punched him as Mr. Azaruddin grabbed him by his hair and continued to rain blows on him.

In the viral video, the cabin crew can be seen running in the aisle towards the public service announcement equipment and appealing to the passengers to “please, stop”.

Amidst the melee, the Captain delayed the take-off until the passengers returned to their seats. Subsequently, the pilots resumed the journey. The crew ensured that Mr. Hussain was not served alcohol during the flight.

‘Corrective action not taken’

The airline in its report did not consider the incident or the passengers a safety risk, nor did it take any corrective measure such as offloading the passengers involved or reporting them to the local police on landing in Kolkata. The airlines comments in the columns on risk analysis and corrective action in the incident report read “not available”.

The airline’s representative in India, Mr. Narsimha Rao, declined to comment on why the airline didn’t act against the passenger or report them to the police and what was its policy on unruly air travellers.

THAI Smile’s India office posted on Twitter, “THAI Smile Airways feels sorry for this. We reaffirm that the incident has been taken care of as we followed the flight safety procedures in accordance with international standards. Our flight crews have already provided support to the persons affected by an incident.”

“The aircraft involved is a foreign registered one, the airline is also a foreign airline and the incident happened on foreign soil. As per Chicago convention we have no powers in such a matter,” Director General at Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Arun Kumar told The Hindu.

What are DGCA’s rules?

If the aircraft were registered in India, the DGCA’s rules on unruly passengers would mean that passengers could face a ban of between six months to upto two years by the airline, and other airlines could also possibly place him on a no-fly list too. If the pilot deems the incident serious, the flight has to be diverted to the nearest airport, and a police complaint filed against the errant passenger.

“The pilot in command (PIC) should have offloaded the passenger who refused to pay attention to the safety instructions, while others could have been warned. A passenger who is violent once can be violent again. If he says he has a backache and can’t follow an important safety requirement, he could have also been declared unfit to fly or seated in the last row which has non-reclinable seats. A passenger without a seatbelt can be like a projectile if the aircraft hurtles and can injure other passengers fatally,” explains Arun Kapur, former Safety and Emergency Procedures Instructor at Air India.

The safety risk assessment is however the prerogative of the PIC, but often there are concerns over delaying a flight, or costs involved in pursuing a legal case against passengers.