A man wielding a Swiss army knife had to be restrained and moved to the back of a South African Airways aircraft on an overnight flight from Zurich to Johannesburg, The Star newspaper reported on Friday.
The passenger apparently spent the first portion of the trip on Wednesday threatening a passenger with the knife, banging on the floor of an occupied toilet and repeatedly grabbing the earphones off the head of a woman sitting next to him.
At 4.30am on Thursday, a request was received to call the police and the ”unruly” passenger was arrested when the flight landed at Johannesburg International Airport, the paper said, quoting SAA spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan.
A prominent Cape Town businessman, who did not want his name to be published, said he was among the last 30 passengers to board flight SA725 in Zurich.
In front of him was a man whose nationality he could not identify, who appeared to be ”drunk, delusional or on drugs”.
”The man was shouting and screaming, jumping up and down … It’s only a Swiss army knife, it’s only a fucking knife,” the passenger said. – Sapa