Flight crew 'held hostage' by angry passengers for flight diversion

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A mob of angry passengers held a pilot and crew hostage at Shanghai airport after their flight was unexpectedly diverted due to bad weather.

Heavy fog forced the Jetstar pilot to make an unscheduled stop en route to Beijing, where passengers were asked to disembark. But according to reports, many refused, and some of them decided to take action.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the cabin crew were held by a group of passengers for more than six hours, until finally police and consular officials were called in for assistance

The crew were reportedly held in a section of the airport's arrivals area and prevented from leaving.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, one passenger, Alastair Johnson, said the passengers became "extremely obnoxious."

"The captain was being assaulted. They were preventing him from leaving, physically restraining him and trying to take his bags away."

After arranging for some of the cabin crew to be released, the pilot stayed with passengers to try to restore calm until arrangements for their travel were made.

The passengers were Australian and Chinese nationals on a flight from Melbourne to Beijing via Singapore.

They were offered a hotel and were told they would board later flights when the heavy fog had cleared and the Jetstar crew had been replaced.

A Jetstar spokeswoman said: 'Due to the unscheduled landing, there was a delay in arranging customs and immigration processing for our passengers which resulted in our crew exceeding their flying hours.'

'Our captain and crew assisted passengers in a calm and professional manner in what was a difficult situation for all involved.'

Chinese police were called and passengers and Jetstar officials contacted Shanghai's Australian consulate for assistance.

The captain confirmed to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that the crew and passengers were safe.

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