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A Sun Country flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger wearing ‘no less than 15 face masks’ allegedly began screaming that the LGBTQ community was giving him cancer.
The Newark, New Jersey-bound flight took off from Minneapolis-St. Paul at 7:13 am Friday and was due to land just before 9:45 am.
But just over an hour later, the plane was forced to divert to Chicago O’Hare International Airport after an erratic traveler allegedly went on a midair rampage.
The passenger began screaming, ‘the plane is going down’ and ranting about the LGTBQ community, according eyewitnesses.
A Sun Country Airlines spokesperson told The Minnesota Star Tribune that the flight was suddenly ordered to ground ‘as a precaution in response to a disruptive passenger.’
Passenger Seth Evans, a Minnesota native flying back to New York City, said he was seated just across the aisle from an unidentified man wearing a massive stack of medical masks, according to the outlet.
According to Evans, the chaos erupted the instant the plane lifted its wheels off the runway.
He recalled the man abruptly jumping out of his seat between rounds of Candy Crush, suddenly erupting into screams about being ‘radiated’ by the LGBTQ community.
A Sun Country flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger wearing ‘no less than 15 face masks’ allegedly began screaming that the LGBTQ community was giving him cancer (stock photo)
The Newark, New Jersey -bound flight took off from Minneapolis-St. Paul at 7:13 am Friday and had to divert to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport
Evans said the unhinged passenger began ranting that he was being ‘gang chased’ and ‘cooked’ by the LGBTQ community, which in turn, had been causing him cancer.
At one point, he said he even heard the passenger declaring, ‘Trump is here.’
It wasn’t until the passenger boldly stated, ‘the plane is going down’ that the flight was diverted to Chicago, packed with frustrated passengers, where it sat motionless on the runway.
The deranged passenger was handcuffed and removed from the plane without incident by Chicago police.
Passengers were ordered to stay in their seats as US Marshals and police questioned them about the incident.
‘The flight landed without incident and the passenger in question was turned over to law enforcement and removed from the aircraft,’ the statement added, according to Star Tribune.
‘We appreciate our passengers’ patience during the interruption to their travels and the flight is continuing on to Newark this morning.’
The FBI has since taken over the case and is now leading the investigation.
The passenger began screaming, ‘the plane is going down’ and ranting about the LGTBQ community before it was forced to divert, according eyewitnesses
Friday morning’s incident is the latest in a long string of unruly passengers threatening flight safety and stranding travelers on sometimes hours-long – or even multi-day – journeys.
Just last month, a growling drunk woman fought back against a police officer who tried to pull her off a Frontier airlines flight for allegedly threatening to blow the plane up.
