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Would-Be Erotic Dancer Forces Flight Back to Domodedovo

A London-bound flight was forced to return to Domodedovo Airport shortly after takeoff Friday morning after a drunk female passenger began stealing other passengers’ eyeglasses and attempted to perform an erotic dance, transportation police said, RIA-Novosti reported.

Fifteen minutes into BMI flight BD0896, which took off at 7:15 a.m., cabin crew received word that the woman was acting strangely and disturbing other passengers, the report said.

The woman, a native of Almetyevsk in the republic of Tatarstan, was so disruptive that the crew decided to return to Domodedovo Airport, where the Airbus A-320 landed safely at 8:30 a.m.

The would-be erotic dancer was detained and sent to a hospital in Domodedovo for a medical examination. Authorities were deciding what disciplinary action should be taken against her, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the woman acted normally prior to the flight, and he speculated that she had a low tolerance for alcohol.

Interfax said the unidentified woman was born in 1972, making her 38 or 39 years old.

The flight’s departure was rescheduled for 5 p.m., a delay of almost 10 hours, according to BMI’s web site.

In a separate incident Friday, a drunken Russian journalist was removed from a Simferopol-Moscow flight, Interfax reported.

The man, identified only as the editor-in-chief of the news site, appeared so intoxicated that Transaero officials feared he might pose a threat to the other passengers, so he was taken off the flight at the Ukrainian airport. Police confirmed through a subsequent alcohol test that he was drunk and later released him.

The site does not provide the name of its editor or other staff.

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