Russian figure skaters who were returning from a competition in Krasnoyarsk had their flight delayed after a man locked himself in a toilet on board their plane, refusing to leave until police arrived in a baffling stand-off.
Several figure skaters who were traveling to Moscow on the aircraft were forced to spend an hour-and-a-half on board as takeoff was delayed by the bizarre incident.
A man whose identity remains unknown locked the door of the toilet and refused to come out and take his seat, forcing the rest of the passengers to wait for police officers to arrive and calm him down.
The middle-aged passenger wanted the plane to leave with him in the lavatory and had told staff that he would be killed if he left his self-imposed enclosure, according to Sport24.
The plane arrived in Moscow after a 90-minute delay, meaning that the skaters missed their transfer flight to St. Petersburg.
The athletes and their coaches changed their tickets to catch the next flight to Russia’s northern capital, reporting that the stalemate had been unpleasant but not frightening.
“We were forced to spend nearly one-and-a-half hours inside the plane in Krasnoyarsk after some troublemaker locked himself in a toilet right before takeoff," said coach Oleg Tataurov.
"A conversation with the flight attendant crew didn’t help much, so police were summoned to the scene.
"There were no consequences after the incident. No one even got scared."
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