Japan ANA plane turns around mid-flight after American passenger bites attendant: report
Incident is latest in string of mishaps involving airplanes in Japan
A plane operated by Japan’s All Nippon Airways turned around mid-flight after an American passenger allegedly bit the arm of a flight attendant, reports say.
Data from FlightAware shows that ANA Flight 118 was not far off the coast of Japan during a Tuesday night trip to Seattle when it had to divert back to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
A spokesperson for the airline told the AFP that a 55-year-old "heavily drunk" man bit into the arm of a crew member, leaving her mildly injured. His identity was not immediately clear, but Kyodo News reports that the man is an American who had to be restrained by crew members before being arrested after landing back in Tokyo.
The man denied biting the flight attendant. Police say he claimed he did not remember what had happened as he had consumed a sleeping pill, Kyodo News added.
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An All Nippon Airways plane is seen at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Jan. 3. (Kosuke Okahara/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
ANA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FOX Business.
The incident is the second involving an ANA flight in Japan in the last week and continues a string of recent mishaps involving passenger planes in the country.
All Nippon Airways Flight 1182, which took off Saturday from New Chitose Airport in northern Japan, was forced to turn around and land after a crack was found in the cockpit window of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft in midair.
Yesterday, jets from Korean Air Lines and Cathay Pacific Airways also clipped wings at the same airport.
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The tail of a Cathay Pacific jet, center, can be seen damaged after it clipped wings Tuesday with a Korean Air plane at New Chitose Airport in Japan. (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
The incident happened in snowy conditions after a towing vehicle pushing the Korean Air plane backward ahead of departure lost traction due to the snow, according to Reuters.
Then, on Jan. 2, a Japan Airlines plane collided with a coast guard aircraft at Tokyo's Haneda airport and burst into flames.
All 379 passengers aboard JAL flight 516 were safely evacuated before the jet was consumed by a fire that took more than six hours to extinguish.
A Japan Airlines' A350 airplane is seen on fire at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Jan. 2. (REUTERS/Issei Kato TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY / Reuters Photos)
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However, five of the six crew of the smaller aircraft were killed, with the pilot surviving but badly injured. The coast guard plane had been on its way to deliver aid to areas on Japan's west coast that were hit by an earthquake.
Fox Business’ Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.