EXCLUSIVE: Shocking moment British cancer sufferer, 65, is thrown off BA flight to Jamaica over ‘upgrade’ after being ‘handcuffed, covered in a blanket and treated like a slave’
BA flight from London to Kingston diverted to Portuguese island after a fracas
Jamaican-born Kwame Bantu, 65, says he was forcibly restrained by cabin crew
The cancer sufferer says he wanted to move to business class to stretch his legs
A businesswoman from Leeds who tried to help him also removed from aircraft
Both were interviewed by Portuguese police and are trying to get back to the UK
British Airways says they moved Mr Bantu as he was verbally abusing the staff
Earlier it was wrongly reported that a ‘couple’ had been trying to get an upgrade
This is the dramatic moment a British cancer and diabetes sufferer was thrown off a BA flight by police after trying to stretch his legs in business class.
Kwame Bantu, 65, was an hour into the 14-hour flight to visit family in Jamaica when he began to feel dizzy and saw his leg swelling.
He then tried to move into business class, where he says he was ‘ambushed’ by six members of staff who tied him up by his hands and feet before allegedly dragging him back to his seat in economy.
Footage obtained by MailOnline shows uniformed police surrounding him after the plane diverted course and landed on the Portuguese island of Terceira.
‘I’m going to go with you,’ he can be heard telling the officers.
It was initially reported that Mr Bantu, who is still stranded on the remote island of Terceira, was kicked off the jet for refusing to leave the business class section.
‘I was just trying to get some room to stretch my leg,’ he told MailOnline. ‘But nobody was helping me. They refused to listen about my medical illness and what I was going through. I was treated like a slave.’
The new footage also features Joy Stoney, a businesswoman from Yorkshire who was thrown off the flight alongside Mr Bantu after trying to help him.
A hysterical Ms Stoney can be heard screaming: ‘I didn’t touch his straps.’
The entrepreneur, who was wrongly reported as being Mr Bantu’s partner, told MailOnline how stewards told him to ‘defecate in his seat’ when he told them he needed the toilet.
British Airways told MailOnline that Mr Bantu refused to move from business class and verbally abused crew, so they ‘helped him walk back to his original seat’.
Neither of the passengers know where their baggage is or how they are to get home.
Mr Bantu, from south London, went on: ‘They ambushed me. They tied my feet, my shoulders and my arms and they left me in my seat.
‘I was completely humiliated, my human rights had been taken away from me. I didn’t even have the energy to fight them because my blood pressure would have gone even higher.
‘I don’t think I deserved that kind of behaviour. I can understand if they thought I was going to be violent but [the restraints] stopped my blood from circulating.
‘It’s when some of the other passengers expressed their concern for me that they stopped the plane and landed to kick us out.’
Joy Stoney said she intervened after she saw staff members dragging Mr Bantu, who had inquired about how much a seat in business class costs, through the plane by his neck.
‘The way they restrained him was absolutely preposterous,’ Ms Stoney, 40, told MailOnline.
‘They restrained him by his shoulders via his neck and hands with straps. His ankles were strapped and on top of everything, they handcuffed him.
‘What alarmed me the most was when he wanted to urinate. I know from caring for my mother that if you restrain a diabetic like that, they’re going to need the toilet.
‘He was holding his crotch area for a while and it was horrible to see. I called the steward manager to come see me and told her I would escort him to the toilet myself.
‘They said, “He needs to defecate himself in the chair”, and I think that is utterly inhumane.
‘They refused to give him proper food. They only gave him a bread roll and a small cup of water.
British Airways has become the latest airline to come under fire in recent weeks. Today US-based Delta Airlines was slammed for throwing passenger Kima Hamilton off a flight for using the toilet during a 30 minute delay when the plan was still on the tarmac.
The airline came under further scrutiny this week following the death of a prized rabbit on a flight to London.
And United Airlines caused mass outrage after footage showed bloodied passenger, Dr David Dao, being dragged from an overbooked flight.
The latest incident occurred on flight BA2263 as it left Gatwick London for the Jamaican capital Kingston on Wednesday, military officials confirmed.
An air force spokesman said someone had filmed the spat on a mobile phone and that pair escorted off the plane would be questioned by PSP civilian police in Terceira.
British Airways told MailOnline in a statement: ‘Caring for our customers is our highest priority and we continue to investigate all the circumstances surrounding this incident.
‘We take great care to handle these difficult situations as sensitively as possible. Our cabin crew and one of our pilots repeatedly asked a customer to return to his booked seat in economy after he sat in our business class cabin without permission.
‘He repeatedly refused, verbally abused crew members and disturbed other customers.
‘As a last resort, our cabin crew felt they had no option but to restrain the customer in the interests of the safety of everyone on board and helped him walk back to his original seat.’
MailOnline has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.
A spokesman for the PSP police on the island of Terceira said Mr Bantu and Ms Stoney were not arrested and the matter was closed as far as they were concerned.
He said the civilian force’s only involvement in the incident had been to answer a request to take the pair off the plane, adding: ‘They left the plane without incident.
‘They stayed on Terceira as far as I know last night but I don’t know where and I don’t have information on where they are now.
‘They are free to do what they want as there is nothing preventing them from leaving the island at any time.’
Flight-tracking data shows the plane left Gatwick for Kingston at 11.36am on Wednesday.
However at about 3pm it started to divert from its intended flight path and double back for the island of Terceira.
The plane then left the island at about 7.15pm, returning back to London at 10.36pm.
It comes a week after British Airways was criticised by the new President of Ghana for the ‘shoddy’ way it treats customers.
In a major embarrassment for the airline, the African country’s leader criticised ‘the quality of the planes and the service’.
He even accused BA of ‘taking us a little for granted’. The comments follow a barrage of complaints from travelers over poor service on BA flights.
It has been criticised after it stopped providing free sandwiches, snacks and drinks on flights lasting less than five hours.
The policy could now be extended to long-haul flights for passengers in economy class.
The airline has also came under fire for plans to cut legroom from 30 inches to 29 on some of its planes – an inch less than on RyanAir planes.
Like ppl affi go stawt wear armor pan di flights dem….