Unruly passenger subdued on plan

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By MaluM Nalu
LAE businessman Mathew Minape says he tackled and held down an expatriate passenger who inflated a lifejacket and was moving towards the exit door of an Air Niugini Boeing 767 flight from Port Moresby to Singapore on Monday evening.
Air Niugini has confirmed the incident on Flight PX 392 and has commended Minape and two other passengers, one a man East New Britain based in Vietnam (unidentified) and the other a longtime resident of PNG (unidentified), for their courage and bravery in helping the cabin crew stifle the troublesome passenger.
Minape, a former rugby league player, told reporters at Jackson Airport yesterday that the incident happened over waters between Indonesia and Singapore.
He said he noticed the passenger, who looked to be of Indian descent, but could also be from the Middle  East, long uneasy and walking to and from the plane’s toilet and constantly checking his bags.
“When he came out from the restroom, he inflated a lifejacket around his body, and was looking around,” Minape said.
He was seated in the exit row, right next to the window.
“I stood up and shouted: “What are you trying to do when there is no call for us to put on lifejackets?
“Another man, an expatriate, also asked him what he was trying to prove by putting on a lifejacket.
“I jumped over two rows, grabbed him on his shoulder, pushed him down and shouted.
“This is a PNG aircraft.  This is my aircraft. Don’t play around and just sit down.
“When I screamed at him, the expatriate was helping, and then another PNG man who said he was related to businessman Eremas Wartoto, joined and we pushed the man down and sat on either side of him.”
Minape said he asked the cabin crew for handcuffs or a rope to tie up the man but there were none. So he tied him up using the seat belt.
“We sat down and fought with him if he tried to move or do anything,” he said.
“Both the Tolai man and myself are big guys and managed to keep him quiet.
“A cabin crew came and removed the life jacket and we pinned him down until we arrived in Singapore.”
Minape said the man, who told him that he was a chef from Indian, had worked in Jamaica and then the Solomon Islands, where he lost his job. He was heading home.