Passengers 'manhandle' Air India cabin crew

New Delhi: Unruly passengers allegedly manhandled cabin crew members and threatened to break open the cockpit door of Air India's Boeing 747 aircraft on Thursday after their Delhi-Mumbai flight was delayed for nearly five hours due to a technical problem, according to an airline official.

Air India spokesperson said on Saturday that the operating crew has been asked to submit a detailed report on the "reported misbehaviour" by some passengers.

"The AI865 flight on Thursday got delayed as it developed a technical snag. It had to return to the bay. Passengers started knocking on the cockpit door, asking and taunting the pilots to come out," an airline official said. "One male passenger even said that he will break open the cockpit door if the pilots didn't come out," the official said, adding the situation inside the plane "went from bad to worse".

Passengers were stuck inside the plane for approximately five hours, the official added.

According to the official, a female passenger allegedly even manhandled a cabin crew member, grabbing her arm in order to open the main exit gate quickly.

An official of aviation regulator DGCA said that they have asked Air India to take action against the "unruly behaviour" of passengers.