On the afternoon of July 26, a male passenger was removed from flight VN253 from Hanoi to Saigon for inappropriate behaviors.
Before he was evicted from the flight, Vu Anh Cuong, the male passenger in question, allegedly groped a female passenger while going to his seat, Thanh Nien reports. According to the victim, after she was settled in her seat, Cuong walked by and started touching her shoulder and then her rib cage. When she realized what happened, she reacted strongly to his behavior, yet he smiled and denied having inappropriately touched her.
The chief flight attendant then approached the man to settle the conflict. According to her testimony documenting the incident, Cuong "had too much alcohol, showed lewd behavior and inappropriately touched a female passenger. He even touched me inappropriately." Cuong also threatened the flight attendant, according to the female passenger.
Cuong admitted to being drunk when asked, so the captain of the flight then removed him from the plane.
Tran Hoai Phuong, director of Northern Airports Authority, later confirmed that Vu Anh Cuong violated the dignity of the aviation staff and the passenger on the flight. He was fined VND10 million for the offense.
At the meeting with the police, Cuong said he had apologized to the female passenger and her husband and offered an apology to the chief flight attendant and all the passengers on the flight.
[Photo via Thanh Nien]
