Crew Member Bitten By Passenger During Mid-Air Fight Over Body Odour

The arm of a cabin crew member aboard a Shenzhen Airlines was bitten when she attempted to intervene in a fight between two passengers. The incident took place on Tuesday (Apr 1) when the flight was set to take off as two female passengers clashed with each other, according to a report in South China Morning Post.

The fight escalated after one of the women became irritated by the other's body odour while the other objected to the smell of the fellow passenger's perfume. Both were seated on the same row on the right side of the aircraft as the verbal tirade soon gave way to a brawl. Flight attendants as well as other male passengers attempted to break off the fight but to no avail.

One of the videos going viral on social media showed a cabin crew member desperately trying to defuse the situation when she was allegedly bitten on the arm while another passenger was also scratched.

"Open your mouth. You have bitten me!" the flight attendant was heard shouting.

Afterwards, the police arrived on the scene and escorted the reckless passengers away.

The plane was scheduled to depart from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport for Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, China at 5.45 pm local time. However, the incident caused a delay as other passengers were told to get off the aircraft, only to reboard it two hours later.

"Shenzhen Airlines does its best to safeguard the legal rights of both passengers and its employees. We call on passengers to obey the rules and take your trips in a civilised manner," the company said in a statement.

It remains unclear what punishment they will receive but the police have launched an investigation.

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Social media reacts

The video invited myriad reactions on social media with many urging the airlines to give more autonomy to its cabin crew to deal with such careless elements.

"Cabin crew need to be able to deploy tasers in incidents like this," said one user while another added: "I suggest this attendant take some vaccines to make sure she has not been infected by any viruses because of being bitten by the passenger."

A third commented: "How many people does it take to restrain 2 hysterical women? The staff aren't trained to deal with situations like these, and they should be."