A Jetsar plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Bali on Wednesday night after a brawl broke out mid-flight.
The fight allegedly erupted between a group of Australian men about five hours into flight JQ27 from Sydney to Phuket. The pilot landed the plane in Bali in order to offload the brawlers, say Jetsar.
According to 9News.com.au, passengers described there being “blood everywhere”.
Sydney woman Romy Papas described how one of the men was repeatedly punched in the face and had blood all over his chest, to the shock of fellow passengers.
“He was wiping it on the seats and there was bloody napkins everywhere,” she said.
Six men were removed from the plane at Bali’s Denpasar airport in relation to the incident.
According to airport general manager, Trikora Harjo, three of the six men appeared to be drunk. All would be returned to Australia on Friday without charge.
“As the flight landed we brought them to the arrival hall of the international airport with Immiration, police and security of Ngurah Rai (airport). They are now being interrogated,” Mr Harjo said on Thursday, according to News.com.au.
“The airline will send their security to Bali to escort them back to Australia today and they will be taken back to Australia tomorrow on Friday with (a) Jetstar flight,” he said.
The other passengers were glad to seethe removal of the group and thanked the crew, said a Jetsar spokeswoman.
“A group of six passengers travelling together were being extremely disruptive amongst themselves and refused requests from our crew,” she said.
“The captain decided to divert the flight to Bali where Indonesian police took the disruptive passengers off the aircraft.
“We take safety and security seriously and we don’t tolerate disruptive behaviour by passengers on our flights.”