A flight attendant was left with a broken arm after getting into a bathroom fight with one of two pilots on a recent Donghai Airlines flight. The Shenzhen-based airline confirmed on Monday that both the pilot and flight attendant had been suspended pending an investigation after details of the brawl went viral on social networking site Weibo.
The physical altercation, which occurred around 50 minutes before landing, also left the pilot with a missing tooth according to Chinese netizens who have been arguing over whether the flight attendant or pilot was most to blame for the fight.
Donghai Airlines flight DZ6297 was a routine scheduled service from the eastern city of Nantong to Xianyang in Shannaxi province when the pilot went to use the lavatory before landing. But when the pilot exited the flight deck to use the restroom, a passenger was also apparently waiting to use the toilet.
At this point, it’s claimed the lead flight attendant should have ushered the passenger back into the cabin so that the pilot could access the lavatory as a priority. The flight attendant, however, didn’t get involved and it was instead left to the pilot to tell the passenger to make room for him to use the lavatory first.
Things then allegedly got out of hand when the pilot left the lavatory and found the customer still waiting just outside. The pilot reprimanded the flight attendant for failing to keep the area sterile of passengers and the dispute quickly escalated into a physical fight.
“It seems the head steward is at fault here,” one unnamed ‘industry insider’ told China’s Caixin Media Group. “It would escalate into a safety emergency if the pilot was physically assaulted,” the insider continued.
It’s not clear how the flight attendant came to break his arm or how the pilot lost a tooth.
“The company attached high importance to the argument among the crew members during flight and conducted a strict internal verification. Those staff members involved have been suspended their job to ensure flight safety, ” the statement released by Donghai Airlines and reported by SCMP read.
The airline currently operates a fleet of just 23 Boeing 737-800 aircraft but the carrier also has 737MAX and 787 Dreamliner aircraft on order. Donghai Airlines operates mostly domestic Chinese flights but also serves Myanmar, Thailand and South Korea.
