A Trans-Atlantic jet en route from London to Montego Bay in Jamaica was forced to divert to a US airport last night when fighting broke out involving members of an extended family of Irish descent.
The Boeing 767 from Gatwick made an unscheduled landing at Norfolk, Virginia, after trouble erupted as it flew along the east coast of the US.
Those removed from the plane, and detained for three hours by airport police, were named as Mrs Elizabeth Connors and her husband, Patrick, and Mrs Connors's five sisters, Angela, Noreen, Catriona, Pauline and Josie, and their husbands, who all share the surname Driscoll.
The party was spending last night in the Holiday Inn Executive Centre, near Norfolk Airport, and expects to fly to Montego Bay later today.
"We rather think it was some personal interplay between the people, who perhaps knew each other," said Capt David Parsons of the airline Airtours.
"Certainly they were fighting and uncontrollable and clearly the calming techniques which we teach our cabin crews didn't work. Diversion was the only option," he said.
The Norfolk Airport Authority deputy executive director, Mr Wayne Shank, said the incident started about 50 miles off the US coast. "When they landed, the captain requested airport police to come aboard and remove the passengers who had been involved," he said.
"They were taken off the aircraft and interrogated both by local police and the FBI. The US attorney was also called and it was decided that there was not enough evidence that they had interfered with flight crew to proceed under US law. Apparently they were fighting among themselves," he said.
He added that the group was released with an admonition that if they became unruly they would face local arrest.
Mrs Connors told The Irish Times there had been no fighting and said: "A coloured fellow threw a pint of lager over my husband. He said our singing was too loud and said you bloody Irish are too loud.
" I swear on my mother's grave that is the truth. The captain came out. He said he didn't know who to blame but he didn't say we were in the wrong. They apologised to us."
Asked about a statement from Airtours that there was fighting and the group was uncontrollable, Mrs Connors said: "That is a lie. We paid £700 each for this and we were left like dogs."
Capt Parsons added that "the recent high profile of bad behaviour among passengers has meant that no airline is prepared to accept this sort of behaviour."