EgyptAir flight 'agitated' passenger suffers anxiety disorder

CAIRO – 6 March 2018: The agitated passenger who caused havoc during an EgyptAir flight from Muscat to Cairo on Tuesday was suffering a “medical condition”, officials announced.

The national carrier said flight MS931, coming from Muscat, landed at Cairo International Airport at 11:00 hours after a four-hour delay due to an inappropriate conduct by one of the passengers, MENA reported.

The incident took place around 25 minutes into the four-hour flight, however, the lone attacker, who was not armed, was quickly overpowered and contained.

The attacker, who was in Oman around a week ago, turned out to be suffering a medical condition that requires him to consume anxiolytics, which he skipped before boarding the flight, causing him to agitate.

The pilot of the Boeing 737-800 decided to turn the plane around and head back for Muscat to hand over the passenger to the authorities.

The distressed passenger is said to have attacked crew before he was apprehended; the flight later left for Cairo, arriving four hours behind schedule.