A man holding a baby as he was waiting for a delayed EasyJet flight in France was apparently punched by an airport worker Saturday, July 29.
A fellow passenger told the Guardian that the man was hit after passengers on a flight from Nice, France, to Luton, U.K., were held up almost 13 hours, according to FlightAware.com. A photo circulating online appears to show the worker punching the man in front of other passengers.
“The man with the baby ... went over and talked to the Frenchman and the Frenchman didn’t reply, he just smiled and smirked and then whacked this guy on the left side of his face,” Arabella Arkwright, who took the photograph, was quoted by the Guardian as saying.
Her husband pulled the airport worker off the apparent victim before police arrived.
A spokesman for EasyJet said the person in the photograph is believed to work for the Nice airport’s special assistance provider, Samsic, which is contracted to help disabled passengers.
In a statement to Sky News, the airline said, “EasyJet is very concerned to see this picture and can confirm the person in the photo is not an EasyJet member of staff and does not work for EasyJet’s ground handling agents in Nice.”
“We are urgently taking this up with Nice Airport and their special assistance provider Samsic, who we understand the person photographed works for,” the statement continued.
It also apologized for the long delay to flight EZY2122, which was caused by a “technical issue with the aircraft.”
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