A U.S.-bound passenger jet returned to a Tokyo airport after a drunk passenger bit a flight attendant, the airline said Thursday.
"While flying over the Pacific Ocean, a passenger who was heavily intoxicated bit the arm of a female cabin attendant prompting the plane to return to Tokyo Haneda airport," a spokesperson for All Nippon Airways told NBC News Thursday, without naming the suspect.
Flight ANA 118 took off at 9:24 p.m. Tuesday (7:24 a.m. ET) and was due to land in Seattle 10 hours later, according to flight tracking company FlightAware. But it returned to Tokyo Haneda Airport three hours later at 12:26 a.m. (10:26 a.m. ET Tuesday), the data showed.
The suspect was handed over to police and the female flight attendant sustained minor injuries, ANA said.
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The suspect is a 55-year-old American citizen and was arrested on assault charges, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed police officials. NBC News has not confirmed the suspect's identity nor the charge.
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