Members of the Russian and Czech Republic world junior ice hockey groups had been faraway from a New Yr’s Eve flight, with fellow passengers saying the Russian squad brought about the disturbance by smoking and refusing to put on masks.
Calgary Police mentioned in an announcement on Saturday that airport officers responded to stories of a disturbance on an Air Canada flight on Friday.
The group members had been heading house from the world junior championships that had been cancelled on Wednesday due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
“The team of the Czech Republic and Russia was removed from the flight for violating the mask regime. Very strict rules,” Russian coach Sergei Zubov instructed Russian newspaper Izvestia.
Czech group supervisor Otakar Cerny mentioned his group was probably coupled in with the Russians by the flight crew due to the similarity of their grey sweatshirts.
“And practically only for that reason, they threw us into the same bag as the Russians and told us that the entire Czech and Russian expedition could no longer board the plane,” Cerny instructed Czech media.
“Air Canada representatives apologised to us and at their expense arranged a hotel and a flight to Frankfurt at the same time a day later. They also assured us that we would not fly the same flight as the Russian hockey players.”
Eoin Kenny, a passenger on the flight who was in enterprise class, mentioned one Russian official who was seated close to him was vaping within the cabin and refused to place his masks up over his mouth and nostril.
The flight attendants tried time and again to get him to adjust to the foundations, Kenny mentioned, however the man refused.
“He was blaring Russian rock music on his phone,” Kenny instructed The Canadian Press from the airport in Madrid. “They kept trying to get him to turn it off but he wouldn’t. I think they were over-refreshed.”
