Inspectors from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam yesterday simulated the commotion on April 18 on a Vietnam Airlines flight when a passenger - a taekwondo expert - was reportedly beaten and humiliated.
Khuong showed some bruises to journalists
They used a Boeing 777 plane and employees from the airlines, airplane security forces and two flight attendants to react the scene.
An airport officer played the role of assaulted passenger Le Minh Khuong, the taekwondo coach for the national Vietnamese team, who was not present at the simulation.
Witnesses including singer Quang Ha, his representative Quang Cuong and Le Hong Son who were on the plane at the time played themselves.
Movie director Tran Luc and Eileen Tan were not present.
Ha, Cuong and Luc have agreed to be witness to defend Khuong as they said the airlines staffs are to blame. Meanwhile, Eileen Tan claimed the opposite, saying Khuong shouted at airlines attendants.
Ha told the press that security staff used an electric baton to hit Khuong.
“I saw Khuong being pushed to the ground. His arms were held. One security officer used an electric baton to hit him on the chest”.
Meanwhile, Luc told Tuoi Tre that Khuong "only wanted to explain but was pushed by security staff and pressed to the ground”.
“He did not cause disturbance or have violent acts. When I asked an airline employee why a passenger was treated like that, I got the reply that Khuong wanted to take off and take back the ticket counterfoil”, Luc said.
Chief inspector from the aviation agency Nguyen Trong Thang told Tuoi Tre that the agency has completed collecting evidence and information related to the case and will officially release a conclusion on who was right and wrong in the next 2-3 days.
Due to bad weather, flight VN1169 did not arrive at HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat airport at 11.45 p.m. as scheduled and was diverted to Da Nang airport where chief pilot ordered passengers to stay onboard due to the short stop.
Khuong asked to get off, but a Vietnam airlines representative from the airport refused his demand, saying that the plane would take off soon.
According to Vietnam Airlines, forty minutes later when the plane was on the runway to take off, Khuong shouted, asking the ground staff to return his boarding pass and he refused to get back to his seat and yelled at flight attendants.
This prompted the airlines to call in security, said the airlines.