Air Canada Flight Diverted After 16-Year-Old Assaults Family Member Mid-Air

An Air Canada domestic flight was recently diverted to Winnipeg after a teenager on board allegedly attacked a member of his own family while the plane was on its way from the Canadian city of Toronto to Calgary, as per a report published by USA Today. The mid-air disruption caused a three-hour delay in the airliner's journey, the report said.

The incident took place onboard Air Canada Flight 137, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) informed. According to the police, a 16-year-old boy "assaulted an adult male passenger" while Flight 137 was bound for Calgary. "The investigation has determined that Air Canada flight #137 was en route from Toronto to Calgary, when a 16-year-old male passenger, from Grande Prairie, assaulted an adult male passenger who was identified as a family member," the RCMP said in its statement.

The teenager was restrained by fellow passengers and crew members, the authorities said. He was detained upon landing and sent to a hospital for medical examination, the authorities added. The victim of the attack received treatment for "minor physical injuries" before the flight landed at the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport, they informed.

This is the second time in just a few months that Air Canada has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In October, the Canadian flag carrier issued an apology to a British MP named Mohammad Yasin, who, according to the Canadian government, was singled out for additional questioning while flying to and from Canada. 

Following the issuance of apology, Canadian Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez had said that the government "called Air Canada" after the incident came into its notice wherein British Labour MP Mohammad Yasin was peppered with questions while traveling with a British parliamentary committee to Canada. "Air Canada apologized and apologizing was the right thing to do," Rodriguez had told reporters.

Clive Betts, a fellow Labour MP of Yasin's, had told the UK House of Commons that his colleague was subjected to additional screening by Air Canada officials who said it was "because his name was Mohammad". The challenges of a "racist and islamophobic" nature were raised both at airports in London, England, and in Montreal, Betts had said. He further said that Yasin was later challenged in Toronto. 

(With inputs from Reuters)