Add The New York Post on Google A woman has claimed she was sexually touched mid-flight while she and her daughter were asleep.
Beaut Pimpaporn, 33, from Thailand, was returning home from a trip to Milan, Italy, when she caught a connecting flight in Dubai heading to Bangkok International Airport.
The mother was travelling with her four-year-old daughter when the alleged assault took place on a flydubai flight recently.
Pimpaporn claimed a passenger squeezed her backside while touching himself.
She said the man quickly withdrew his hand, covered it with his jacket and pretended to adjust the entertainment screen in front of her seat while repeatedly glancing at her.
Not wanting to spark panic on the aircraft, she said she waited until the plane landed in Bangkok before alerting cabin crew and filing a police report.
“I did not understand everything the air hostess was saying to the man, because they were speaking in Arabic, but the flight attendant asked him whether he had done what I reported,” Pimpaporn said.
“At first, he denied it, but eventually he admitted what happened,” she claimed.
“After that, he came to me, cried, knelt down and begged for forgiveness. He kept saying he was sorry and that he would not do it again.”
However, the mother said the flight attendant did not accept that and told the man this was serious and that police had to be involved.
It is understood the man was travelling with a tour group, with members of the group begging for forgiveness on his behalf.
“They [his friends] asked me to let him go and forgive him, but the flight attendant told those who were not involved to leave because this was a police matter,” Pimpaporn said.
“Later, I found out he came with a tour group. He was travelling with friends or people from the same tour group, not with family.
“There were around four or five people who came and tried to intervene, and there may have been more because they travelled as a group.”
The 33-year-old said the flight attendant separated her child from the situation immediately. “My daughter was taken away by the captain, so she would not see everything that happened.”
Tourist police and immigration officers later dragged the man off the plane and hauled him to the police station.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Chamnanyut Konkong of the Don Mueang district station said officers would attempt to arrange mediation between the two parties.
“The suspect has been denied entry into Thailand. We have scheduled the complainant to be interviewed this morning,” Konkong said.
“He has not yet been investigated. The initial step will be to arrange a mediation between the two parties, as this is the normal procedure.”
Pimpaporn said that she decided to speak out to raise awareness about the risks faced by solo female travellers.
“Passengers are often sleeping during long flights, and women travelling alone can be vulnerable,” she said.
“This happened even though I was travelling with my child. I cannot imagine what could happen to someone travelling alone who is too afraid to speak up.
“I want other women to know that they should not feel embarrassed. If something feels wrong, they should report it and ask for help.
“I decided to tell my story because I do not want anyone else to experience what I experienced.”
A flydubai spokesperson told the Daily Mail is does not disclose passenger information and details regarding ongoing investigations.
“The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority,” a spokesperson told the publication.
