Hassan Salamah, an Egyptian national, was attacked by the Roman police while boarding a passenger plane bound from Bucharest, the capital city of Romania to Cairo.
The Romanian cops pushed Salamah and his Moroccan wife out of the plane and canceled their flight. The Egyptian family panicked after they were disembarked.
A brawl erupted between wife of the Egyptian passenger and an airhostess as the wife put her valise on the emergency door. The hostess thought that valise may be a source of danger that would threaten the safety of the other passengers.
The Moroccan wife refused to move to another seat.The brawl developed to a conflict later.
Crew of the plane contacted security and take out the Egyptian family and cancel their flight.
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passenger's witness
One female passenger recorded her witness
She said that on 16 July 2019 we took a 8:00 pm flight RO0101from Amsterdam to Cairo via Bucharest. Hell broke out during the transit; we had around 35-40 minutes for the transit in Bucharest (12 pm). There were people from at least three flights that had to go through the security control, and only one X-ray airport scanner was available in a tiny hall. It reminded me of the horrible movies about crowded conditions causing stress-related behaviors.
The situation was ridiculous; until my 4 years old son was trapped between people who were rushing to get through the security check to catch their flights and when the security started making jokes about people who did not place their belts in special baskets, it was a total mess and everyone was rushing.
The security checks were thoroughly conducted. Luckily, the flight was delayed and we managed to get on the plane. On the plane we understood that a lady who was sitting next to the emergency exit and who spoke only French did not understand or did not want to listen to the emergency exit instructions
At the end she was compelled to sit next to me (at the end of the aircraft). Few minutes later, the security came and asked for her passport and requested her to leave the aircraft because that was the decision of the captain.
The lady obviously did not understand the request since she spoke neither English nor Romanian. We asked the security to provide a translator to ensure that the lady understands what she is required to do. The security said that there is no need for a translator since they speak English (it is an international language).
The passengers asked why she is requested to leave the aircraft and the answer was “Because I said so”.
Later we found out that the reason was that she spat on one of the flights attendants (security). It is not difficult to imagine what the lady was going through when the attitude was not that friendly and people were tired.
Of course spitting is not an appropriate reaction. We asked the security to find a solution to the situation to avoid any escalations and delays, but the security gave a deaf ear.
The security was repeating that this is the captain’s order. In the meanwhile the lady who was suffering from diabetes had a bout, urgently she was given the necessary first aid.
We requested to talk to the captain to find a plausible solution to the situation, but we were refused to talk to the captain (later we were explained that the rules did not allow the captain to talk to the passengers).
The videos showed that the situation was far from safe for the passengers and the security measures were having opposite results from calming down the situation.
I remember that in that high tension situation while the security tried to pull out the lady, her husband and their child out of the plane, the security people were surrounded by passengers and luckily no passenger snapped in that highly volatile situation to make use of the unsupervised weapons of the security personnel.
The security did not take account that there were a lot of children, old people and people with disabilities on the plane. One a lady with disabilities became unwell and the paramedics gave her the necessary first aid again (you can see on the video the desperate look of her son when she was asking for help).
The lady’s husband was removed from the airplane in a very rude way in front of the passengers and crying children. The lady was also removed from the plane in the same way.
I hope the reports will show the correct information regarding the lady’s health condition at that moment. I overheard the second paramedics team stating that her condition was very bad.
When I requested the security to act reasonable, I was threatened and told that I should take care since I can also be escorted out of the airplane.
After two hours of highly stressful situation and without water, the passengers left the airplane. I did not understand whether the move was an indication coming from the security or the passengers decided to leave due to the unbearable conditions.
On the ground, no one asked if there are people or children that required any assistance. I asked twice for water to be provided to people; the water was provided only after one hour (I can't believe it is that difficult to find bottles of water in an international airport to be given to people).
When I asked for the second time for water, the ground flight attendant told me that I should wait, otherwise the security will be requested to handle me. At the end, we were provided with meals and water, and a flight was arranged around 5 am.
Off course, it is not polite to spit on a person, but no one tried to understand what was the lady’s condition: sick, tired, threatened or scared? Her husband did not have any feeling of trust towards the security, he was saying that he is afraid to provide them with their passports.
Using authority did not help to calm down the situation but contrary instigated unrest on the plane which is unacceptable on an international airport of any EU country.
My son asked me never to fly via Romania. I could understand his request, but it caused me distress. Romania is my second home country (I am originally from Moldovia) and I wish those countries to treat people with respect and dignity.
As soon as videos of that event were published, Egyptian and Romanian officials reacted immediately.
The Egyptian counsel in Bucharest hurried to the airport, but he found that the Egyptian passenger had boarded a Turkish airliner bound to Sharm El Sheikh then to Cairo.
Immigration Minister Nabila Makram contacted both the Egyptian Ambassador to Romania Salah Abdel Maqsoud and notables of the Egyptian community.
Makram assured that her ministry is keen to cope with any incident a citizen aboard is exposed to even if it is an inpidual accident.
She contacted the harassed Egyptian citizen and reassured him and his family. She directed concerned officials to follow the issue until the investigations in Romania are completed.
She revealed that her assistant for the Egyptian communities abroad Maj. Gen Mazen Fahmy will follow the investigations personally.
She invited Salamah to meet her after reaching Sharm El Sheikh.
Contributed by Ahmed Moamar
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