Brawl on Russian plane forces return

updated 1:07 p.m. ET July 13, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - A brawl aboard a flight prompted the crew to return to the Russian city of St. Petersburg, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

The fight broke out Thursday during a flight to Turkey, a major vacation destination for Russians, and the pilot decided to return to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport "for security reasons," after crew members were unable to break it up, Interfax reported quoted an unidentified transport police official as saying.

"Witnesses pointed to three young men whose behavior was inappropriate," the official was quoted as saying. They could face legal claims from the airline amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, the report said.

It did not name the airline, and police and airport officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

There was no indication of whether alcohol was involved. Fights involving drunken passengers have disrupted several Russian flights in the past. In a bizarre role reversal in 2004, the flag carrier Aeroflot said two crew members on a domestic flight beat up a passenger who had complained that the flight attendants were drunk.

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