Indonesian passengers create chaos and panic on SQ flight after claiming to smell 'gasoline'

SINGAPORE - A group of 18 Indonesian passengers caused a ruckus on board SQ863 when they claimed they could smell gasoline in the plane's cabin before take-off.

According to passenger Darren, who was travelling on the same flight, the group had insisted that the plane was unsafe to fly and was shouting to other passengers to disembark.

Darren relates the harrowing experience:

"Chaos was created by this group of Indonesian passengers on flight SQ863 from Hong Kong to Singapore on the afternoon of Jun 24.

"I was seated near the back of the plane.

"There was hot air blowing up from vents under the seats of the plane, making the air warm like a sauna. The air stewardess had explained that this would stop once the plane was in the air, and later I found she was right.

"The group of Indonesians complained about the heat and said that they had smelled gasoline at the back of the plane which I did not notice myself.

"They started to shout to all the passengers on board that the plane was unsafe to travel on and wanted everyone to disembark.

"The passengers started to become concerned and the leader, dressed in red, led all the 18 of them off the plane.

"They returned after a short while however, probably because there were no other planes for them to transfer to.

"Once back on board, they started complaining to a stewardess again.

"The pilot had no choice but to demand for them to leave the plane as they might be disruptive again while the plane was in flight.

"An engineer also came on board to say that he found no problems after conducting a check on the plane.

"Eventually they promised to be quiet during the flight and the plane finally took off nearly two hours later.

"The flight was originally scheduled to depart at 1.30pm, but ended up only flying some time after 3pm."

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