Dublin flight diverted after on-board trouble

A charter flight travelling from Dublin to Crete with 167 passengers on-board was diverted to Venice last night after a number of fights broke out.

The incident, on a Futura Gael flight, took place in Italian airspace at approximately 10pm Irish time.

Speaking on RTE's lunchtime news, Aoife O’Reilly a Dublin student who was on the plane said those responsible were over 30-years-old and had been drinking.

“We were up in the air and two guys — who were surprisingly a lot older than us — started fights,” she said. “Then we had to be redirected to Venice for a couple of hours. The police came on and had to get them off.

“They had a couple of drinks on them, they were extremely aggressive. One of the guys half-way through the flight stood up and started smashing the overhead compartments. There were loads of girls and a couple of children and I think some people felt a bit threatened,”

In a statement, Futura Gael confirmed that an incident had happened and said that "the captain then made the decision, for the safety of all on-board, to divert to Venice, where the aircraft was met by members of the Italian police".

Five people were taken from the aircraft and the remaining passengers continued their flight after a two-hour delay.

Aiport police in Venice said the men, were taken into police custody before being released without charge.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of reports of the incident and was making inquiries.

A spokeswoman said that it had received no requests for consular assistance.