Plane diverted after drunk Aussies brawl

JAKARTA - Agence France-Presse

A rowdy brawl among a group of drunken Australians forced a plane to make an unscheduled landing in Indonesia, an official said Thursday.

The Jetstar flight from Australia to Thailand was forced to reroute to the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Wednesday evening after several passengers began fighting.

The pilot requested permission to land at Bali's Ngurah Rai international airport and asked that extra security be present to assist in hauling the offenders off the flight.
 
"We removed six men from the flight, and they appeared to have been in a fight," the airport's authority chief Yusfandry Gona told AFP.
 
The passengers admitted they were drinking aboard the flight carrying 314 passengers before a fight broke out, Gona said. The men suffered bruises but incurred no serious injuries.
 
The plane continued its journey onward to Phuket the same evening, while the Australians were held by immigration authorities for questioning in Bali.
 
The airport's general manager, Trikora Harjo, said the group would be flown back to Australia once their investigations had concluded.
 
It's not the first time Australian tourists have stirred up trouble on flights over Indonesia.
 
In May, a drunk 25-year-old was held in custody after threatening to jump from a plane mid-air on its way to Bali.