Plane Passenger Arrested After Allegedly Punching Crew Member and Opening Cabin Door: 'It Was Chaos'  By Escher Walcott

A passenger on board a Saudia Airlines jet was arrested for allegedly punching a crew member as he tried to open a cabin door seconds after touchdown.

At around 1:00 p.m. local time on Aug. 28, police were called to an aircraft at London’s Heathrow Airport, where they arrested a 33-year-old male passenger for alleged abusive behavior towards a crew member, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Officers at London Heathrow Airport were called to an aircraft, which had recently landed following reports of a disturbance,” said police. “Officers arrested a 33-year-old man on suspicion of endangering an aircraft, two counts of assault by beating, behaving in a threatening, abusive or disorderly manner towards a member of aircraft crew and damaging an aircraft.”

U.K. newspaper The Independent reported that the passenger allegedly started arguing with a member of staff before striking him as he tried to open the plane door shortly after landing at Heathrow Airport after flying in from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The pilots alerted police after landing that a man had gone “berserk” on the aircraft and refused to wait to disembark the plane after landing, according to The Independent and The Evening Standard.

In photos published by The Sun, several police vans and fire trucks are seen surrounding the plane on the runway at Heathrow Airport. One fire truck is parked right next to the jet with firefighters standing on the crane of the truck, which is raised to the cabin door of the aircraft.

“It was chaos on board and very frightening for families,” one witness told The Sun. “The plane had wheels down but a passenger was so agitated and struck out at the crew because he wanted to get off there and then. Passengers and airport workers looking on were dumbstruck … as ambulance and police vehicles dashed to the scene.”

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After officials arrived at the scene, they quickly entered the cockpit to arrest the man, per The Sun.

The suspect has since been released under investigation as enquiries continue, police told PEOPLE.

According to flight records obtained by The Independent, the Saudia flight departed Jeddah 38 minutes late and reached London over six hours later.

PEOPLE has reached out to Saudia Airlines and the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.