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SEVEN Brits were hauled off a budget flight following a furious row between passengers which led to one woman allegedly being spat at.

Stunned onlookers said two groups of lads came to blows on the easyJet flight from Manchester to Tenerife on Thursday.

 The fight happened on an easyJet flight from Manchester to Tenerife on Thursday
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The fight happened on an easyJet flight from Manchester to Tenerife on ThursdayCredit: SWNS:South West News Service
 Two groups of men forced the flight to be diverted to Portugal
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Two groups of men forced the flight to be diverted to PortugalCredit: SWNS:South West News Service
 After the pilot made the emergency landing, seven Brits were hauled off the plane
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After the pilot made the emergency landing, seven Brits were hauled off the planeCredit: SWNS:South West News Service

The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Faro and security then bundled off seven Brits from the plane.

The ruckus is said to have broken out around two hours after the 5.35pm take-off when witnesses said a group of four sat at the back starting punching each other.

An air stewardess broke up the scuffle and seated one of the men at the front of the plane to try and calm tensions.

Minutes later, though, the man ran back to his friends - and the fight broke out again.

Passengers tried to break up the fight and one shouted: "There's children on the plane!"

Referring to the spitting incident, another said: "He f***ing spat on a woman...dirty bastard!"

The captain then diverted the plane and made an emergency landing in Faro, Portugal.

'PUNCHES THROWN'

Witness Nathan Belford, 30, said the altercation involved a 10-man stag party and group of four men.

Nathan, from Stoke-on-Trent, said: "We couldn't believe what was happening. We just wanted to go on holiday.

"Things first kicked off when the group at the back got into a fight. Punches were thrown, and the stewardess broke them up.

"But then they kicked off again, and passengers actually intervened to calm them down.

"One woman got in the way, but a guy spat in her eye. It was disgusting.

"After that, the captain decided to divert to Portugal. Then things escalated after the bigger stag party howled with rage about it.

"They picked a fight with cabin crew and with the group of four, complaining that they should be going to Tenerife for their weekend.

"One of the guys got into trouble when he started pinching drinks from the front of the plane. It was Bedlam.

"Once we landed, though, security got them off. It was impressive - one of the guys they had to carry off was at least six-foot-six."

Two hours after landing in Faro, the plane completed its journey to Tenerife.

A spokesman for easyJet said: "We can confirm that flight EZY1903 from Manchester to Tenerife on October 3 diverted to Faro as a result of some passengers on board behaving disruptively and was met by police on arrival.

"The passengers were removed by police and the aircraft continued onto Tenerife.

"easyJet's cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

"Whilst such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously, and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board.

"The safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is our highest priority."

 After the men were taken off the plane, it completed its journey to Tenerife
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After the men were taken off the plane, it completed its journey to TenerifeCredit: SWNS:South West News Service
 The ugly altercation happened in front of children on the plane
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The ugly altercation happened in front of children on the planeCredit: SWNS:South West News Service


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