Brawling Chinese tourist group thrown off plane at Phuket airport
Flight from Phuket to Wuhan delayed after bloody fight breaks out over seating dispute
A Chinese tour group was thrown off a plane just before it was due to take off from Phuket, after 15 of them engaged in a ferocious brawl, airport officials said.
The China Eastern Airlines flight to Wuhan in Hubei province was delayed by about an hour on Sunday morning while the entire tour group of 27 passengers, some of them bruised and bloodied, were escorted off the aircraft.
"The captain had to delay the flight while the 15 and another 12 people travelling with them were offloaded," airport deputy general manager Kanputt Mungklasiri said.
Once back in Phuket International Airport's terminal, the fighting mainlanders were forced to reconcile by airline and airport officials, Kanputt said.
Chinese media reported that the passengers came to blows over who would be sitting in which seats.
Chutian Metropolis Daily said the incident began when a woman with a child said she expected to change seats with someone seated beside her husband. The husband then quarrelled with his wife and swore at her, the newspaper said - but the man beside her thought the husband had pointed at him.