Man dies on Aer Lingus flight from Portugal to Ireland 'after biting fellow passenger'

Death: file picture shows Aer Lingus planes at Dublin aiport
Rachel Blundy19 October 2015

A plane passenger has died on a flight from Portugal to Ireland after he reportedly bit a fellow traveller in a violent scuffle on board.

The 24-year-old Brazilian man, who has not yet been identified by police, is said to have attacked his victim on the Aer Lingus flight.

Moments later he fell unconscious as cabin crew and passengers attempted to restrain him while he lashed out.

He was later pronounced dead at Cork Airport, after the pilot was forced to make a diversion.

A Portuguese woman aged in her 40s was arrested on suspicion of drugs offences after the flight landed and police seized a quantity of amphetamines from the plane.

She was being questioned in connection with the man's death at a police station in Cork today.

A spokesman for the Irish airline said the plane, which was carrying 168 passengers and six crew, landed in Cork at about 5.40pm yesterday as a result of a "medical emergency".

A post-mortem examination is set to be carried out on the man's body as investigators assess whether he had an underlying medical condition.

Irish police questioned everyone who had been on board after the plane landed.

A spokesman for Aer Lingus said: “Aer Lingus flight EI 485 Lisbon to Dublin, diverted into Cork due to a medical emergency on board.

“There were 168 guests and six crew members on board. The flight landed safely at 5.40pm local time."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in