Chennsi: Quarelling couple force plane to land

Chennai: An Iranian woman created a ruckus by directing endless tirade at her husband on board a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Bali, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at Chennai airport on Sunday. The couple’s verbal volleys inside the flight created inconvenience to 284 passengers on board the flight who requested the cabin crew and the captain to take action.

Airport sources said the woman who was in an inebriated state happened to go through her husband’s mobile phone when he was fast asleep owing to a few drinks after which she picked up an argument with him. The couple were in their mid-30s and were travelling with a young child.

 The husband too started arguing with his wife questioning her as to why she went through his phone and the two didn’t heed to the pacifying attempts by cabin crew and fellow passengers. The pilot, who took stock of the situation informed the Air Traffic Control and requested for an emergency landing. The flight landed at the city airport at 10.15 am. Airline security and CISF personnel offloaded the squabbling couple and handed them over to the immigration authorities.

 Meanwhile, the flight took off to Bali at 12.10 pm. Immigration authorities discussed with Iran’s high commission in New Delhi and after counseling, the couple were put on a 11 pm Batik air flight to Kuala Lumpur from where they would travel to Doha, airport sources said.