A Monarch Airways flight from Palma had to be evacuated yesterday and the plane searched after a teenage passenger apparently became aggressive.
The pilot of the plane called the police and evacuated more than two hundred passengers when during the taxi stage of departure the as yet unnamed 17 year old became aggressive "lashing out at people". Civil guards are believed to have boarded the plane to restrain the youth who is thought to have been on drugs.
One passenger, who asked not to be named, said: "He freaked out and started lashing out at people as the plane was taxiing on the runway before take-off.
"People started screaming and children crying. It was like a scene from a movie."
A source quoted in the Telegraph newspaper said "The pilot asked the control tower to call police minutes before take-off when (the teenager) started lashing out at other passengers."
"He called again moments later to say he was ordering the evacuation of the plane."
"Civil Guard officers had to race across the runway. He was virtually alone in the plane when they boarded and had to use physical force to arrest him."
"He looked as high as a kite and detectives suspect he may still have thought he was in a nightclub, not a plane."
The teenager spent the night in a youth detention centre before being put on a plane back to the UK but it is likely he will have to return to Spain for a trial.
The other passengers were flown home on a later flight once the teenager had been removed and the plane searched.
