A woman has been detained in China after attempting to smash the window of a plane during a recent flight from Xining to Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. The woman, who was said to have been drunk at the time of the incident, was quickly grabbed by flight attendants and the Airbus A320 aircraft made an emergency diversion to Xinzheng International Airport where local police arrested her.
According to a statement from the Public Security Bureau of Henan Province posted on China’s WeChat social media platform, the woman was allegedly upset after breaking up with her lover. The 29-year-old woman had apparently drunk two bottles of liqour before being allowed to board the near three-hour flight.
“Zhengzhou Airport Police quickly rushed to the scene to understand the situation and successfully controlled the woman involved,” a translated statement from public safety authorities read.
Video taken by a fellow passenger shows the clearly very distressed suspect sobbing and then lashing out at the passenger window beside her. The force of her punch caused the innermost window to shatter.
Officials said the flight attendants intervened quickly “otherwise the consequences could have been unimaginable”. The likelihood of serious damage is, however, incredibly unlikely. Aircraft windows in the passenger cabin are made up of three layers – the innermost layer is simply a scratch guard which is easily replaced. The woman would have needed to of broken two more much tougher layers to cause any real damage.
“Henan Airport Public Security reminds passengers that aviation safety is everyone’s responsibility. Any damage to any part of the aircraft during flight may seriously threaten flight safety,” the statement continued.
Officials did not say whether the woman had been formally prosecuted with any crimes of whether she was still in detention. In recent years, Chinese authorities have attempted to stamp out what they view as errant behaviour as more and more Chinese people can afford to fly.
In the first year of a new scheme to ban citizens with “poor social credit” from flying, people were blocked from purchasing airline tickets 17.5 million times.
There have also been several high-profile incidents involving Chinese airlines in the last few years, including several occasions where passengers have opened emergency exits while stuck on the ground in order to let fresh air into the cabin and several incidents involving throwing coins at aircraft engines for “good luck”.
The original statement and video can be viewed on WeChat here.
