Woman held under Irish Republic’s Drug Trafficking Act following man’s death on Lisbon-Dublin flight after he reportedly bit another passenger

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Irish police have arrested a Portuguese woman in connection with the death of a man on an Aer Lingus flight from Lisbon to Dublin.



The woman is in custody in Cork, where the plane was diverted to after the 24-year-old man died.

She is being held under the Irish Republic’s Drug Trafficking Act.

A postmortem is being carried out at Cork University hospital on the man who, according to reports, bit another passenger during the flight and had to be restrained before he eventually lost consciousness. He is understood to be of Brazilian origin.

After the pilot declared an emergency and diverted the flight, the man was treated by a doctor and nurse on the plane.

When it landed at about 6pm on Sunday, all 168 passengers and six crew were questioned by Gardai.

Luggage was examined and a substance was discovered in the bags of the woman who was arrested. The substance has yet to be analysed. The woman was taken to Togher Garda station for questioning.



The passenger who was bitten was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The rest of the passengers were allowed to continue their journey to Dublin after a three-hour delay at Cork airport.