Mumbai/Panaji: The entire 23-member team of leading Goan football club Churchill Brothers flying on a SpiceJet plane from Goa to Kolkata on Tuesday were offloaded at Mumbai airport after some players allegedly misbehaved with an airhostess and other cabin crew members.
Three players have been detained by police, an official said in Mumbai on Tuesday night, amid unconfirmed reports that overseas footballers, possibly from Nigeria, may be among them.
The team was on its way to Kolkata to take part in a tournament.
"Some passengers misbehaved with and abused our crew on board flight SG 804. Our pilot took a decision to offload them in Mumbai during the scheduled transit halt," a SpiceJet spokesperson told PTI in Mumbai.
There was no immediate confirmation whether the three players were booked
for any charges.
The private air carrier did not reveal the identity of the offloaded pasengers but the Churchill management said they were its team members.
The pilot decided to deplane the misbehaving passengers in the interest of saftey of fellow travellers, the spokesperson said, adding the matter is under investigation by the concerned authorities.
In Panaji, the Churchill Brothers Team management defended its players and said it was contemplating the possibility of filing defamation case against SpiceJet for allegedly harassing its players.
"Is there a bedroom in the plane? It was not molestation. One of my player s hand touched a girl (air hostess) by mistake and he apologised. The crew members later created a ruckus and there was an argument," Joaquim Alemao, president, Churchill Bros, told PTI in Panaji tonight. According to
reports, the girl was a member of the flight crew.
Alemao said that although the accusations was against three players, his entire team of 23 was downloaded at Mumbai airport.
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