A plane returned to its departure airport in Japan after a cabin crew member was bitten by a drunk passenger, according to the airline.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 118 took off from Tokyo on Tuesday evening and was headed to Seattle, where it was scheduled to land 10 hours later, FlightAware tracking data showed.
But she returned to Haneda Airport in Tokyo three hours into her flight.
An ANA spokesperson told Sky partner NBC News: “While flying over the Pacific Ocean, a highly intoxicated passenger bit the arm of a flight attendant, causing the plane to return to Tokyo Haneda Airport.”
The agency said the flight attendant was slightly injured and the suspect, whose name was not mentioned, was handed over to the police.
Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, citing unnamed police officials, reported that the suspect, a 55-year-old American citizen, had been arrested for assault.
NBC News has not confirmed the identity of the suspect nor the charge.
There have been a number of accidents this month involving aircraft in Japan.
It includes an ANA flight returning to the departure airport Because there was a crack in the cockpit window Boeing 737-800 in the air.
Flight 1182 was on a domestic flight last Saturday, heading to Toyama Airport, but then returned to New Chitose Airport in Sapporo.
A Japanese airline spokesman said the crack was found in the outer layer of four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit.
“The crack was not something that affected flight control or pressure,” the spokesman said. They added that no injuries were reported among the 59 passengers and six crew members.
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Japan: Hundreds survived a plane crash
On January 2, a Japan Airlines plane turned into an inferno After it collided With the Coast Guard plane at Haneda Airport.
All 379 people on board the passenger plane survived, but five people on the smaller plane died.
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Also in Japan, two planes made contact on Tuesday of this week at an airport, resulting in one of them sustaining damage to its wing.
A Korean Air plane – carrying 289 passengers and crew – Cathay Pacific plane cut A Korean Air official said that the plane was at New Chitose Airport on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
An airline official said the call occurred as the Korean Air plane was preparing to take off.
