An aggressive doctor had to be restrained in mid-air on flight from Bangkok. The doctor had to be overpowered and tied up by plane passengers after trying to open an emergency exit at 33,000ft.
Passengers overpowered an ‘intoxicated’ doctor and tied him up to stop him from opening an emergency exit at 33,000ft.
The Russian anaesthetist Vadim Bondar was taken down by passengers after causing terror on the Aeroflot flight from Bangkok to Moscow.
According to local media, the ‘aggressive’ doctor was restrained on the jammed packed tourist jet after ‘seeking to open the emergency exit’.
One eye witness on the flight had said: “The ‘foul-mouthed and violent’ 43-year-old medic had been downing the rum on the ten-hour flight even though the airline bans alcohol in economy class on this route”.
A blue-shirted Norwegian traveller led the way in taking down the ‘drunk doctor’ soon aided by Russians, said local reports.
He had cried when they tied him up with a belt to a seat and was kept restrained for four hours before the aircraft landed in Moscow, passengers said.
One passenger said: ‘He had two bottles of alcohol on him and at some point, tried to open an emergency exit.
‘The crew and fellow passengers tried to calm him down, but he kept screaming and yelling.
‘He cried when his arms and hands were bound. He kept sobbing and saying “My hands are tied, I can’t breathe”.’
While he is a qualified anaesthetic working at a top Moscow clinic, another passenger said the medic ‘specializes – ironically – helping patients in critical conditions caused by alcohol and drugs’.
Aeroflot spokeswoman Vera Abanina said: ‘The economy class passenger while quite obviously drunk was rudely violating public order.
‘He was extremely aggressive, threatening and humiliating the flight attendants.
‘He screamed and did everything to create maximum discomfort to other flight passengers.
‘Two bottles of alcohol were found and confiscated from the passenger. He did not react to verbal and written warnings from the crew.
‘Other passengers and the crew acted together and fixed the rule breaker in a seat using whatever means they managed to find until the end of the flight.’
Dr Bondar specializes is helping patients in critical conditions caused by alcohol and drugs, Russian media reported the ‘air hooligan’ was handed to police on arrival in Moscow airport and underwent a medical check.
A decision will be made on any charges, police said.
Russia’s top criminal investigator Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, personally intervened to demand a full probe into what happened on the flight.
Dr Bondar admitted he did drink rum but ‘only to pass the time while the plane was going through turbulence’.
He later told journalists: ‘Perhaps I asked the flight attendants too often for water. I was told to return to my seat in a rude manner.’
Dr Bondar later apologised to passengers for ‘causing inconvenience’.
He also told a Russian TV channel: ‘First of all, there were no demands for hijacking anything.
‘The belt was pushing into my jugular vein and larynx which made breathing very hard.’
He also claimed an ‘unknown medication’ was injected into him and that a large cash sum – around £1,000 – was missing from his hand luggage after the plane landed.
He said he would talk to lawyers about his treatment on the flight
