Dubai: A Saudi Airlines plane was forced to delay its flight from the capital Riyadh to the Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Tuesday after a passenger caused panic in the plane.
Sources said that the passenger, reportedly a Saudi man, suddenly stood up as the plane was getting ready for the late morning flight and shouted that he had a vision that the plane would crash, local news site Sabq reported on Tuesday.
The plane crew dealt properly with the situation and handed over the passenger to the authorities, one witness said.
However, all the passengers deplaned and a thorough search was conducted in a precautionary measure, while the airport authorities raised the readiness levels as is customary in such cases, the report said.
A passenger told Sabq that the man who caused the panic was a Saudi national.
Social media users praised the attitude of the airline crew to calm the situation, but insisted that the passenger should not be punished for the disruption, arguing that he might have had a strong fear of flying.
