Five hour sit-in on diverted jet

AROUND 90 angry passengers staged a nearly five-hour sit-in on a Ryanair plane in Belgium yesterday, refusing to disembark after their flight was diverted due to fog.

The passengers, mostly French tourists returning from Morocco, refused to leave after the plane landed about midnight at Liege because fog had closed down Beauvais airport in northern France.

"It was a very tense situation," said an airport spokesman. "Some people were very aggressive, very rude." Officials claimed some passengers spat at staff.

Passengers from three other diverted Ryanair planes had accepted an offer of a bus to Beauvais, 225 miles away. But those on a fourth refused this, only leaving the plane after hours of haggling at the request of police.