A passenger plane bound for Seattle, Washington, was forced to return to Tokyo after a passenger bit a flight attendant Tuesday.
The 55-year-old American male passenger was restrained by the crew of the All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 118 plane after biting the arm of a flight attendant for the duration of the flight, according to Kyodo News.
ANA Flight 118 had taken off around 9:47 p.m., with 159 passengers onboard, before being diverted back to Tokyo, according to Flight Radar.
While various reports allege the man was “heavily drunk,” the man told police that he does not remember what happened during the incident and claimed he had taken a sleeping pill.
A spokesperson for ANA told CNN the man was detained by police officers after the plane had landed at Haneda International Airport. The spokesperson added the female flight attendant sustained minor injuries from the incident.
The incident on ANA Flight 118 comes weeks after a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft and a Japan Airlines passenger plane collided on the runway at Haneda International Airport, causing the passenger plane to explode into flames.
Five people on the Coast Guard aircraft were reported dead, while all 367 passengers and 12 crew members had been able to safely evacuate.
On Sunday night, the left wing tip of an ANA aircraft collided with a Delta Airlines aircraft at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. No injuries were reported from this incident, according to ABC7Chicago.
