London Evening Standard

Mark Blunden and Tom Harper

Eight police officers were forced to intervene and some angry travellers grappled with the captain.

One witness likened the scene on the Middle East Airlines service to "something from Lord Of The Flies" as passengers raided the galley for meal trays and a Lebanese woman suffered heart palpitations. The flight to Beirut was one of 80 delayed for an average of two hours or cancelled as thunderstorms and winds of up to 40mph battered the country. City worker Jordan Lancaster was among the 250 people who boarded the flight at 1pm. It then missed its departure slot.

Ms Lancaster, a 45-year-old legal translator travelling to an archaological dig, called the Evening Standard at 7pm and said: "It is like something from Lord Of The Flies, people are hysterical. There are at least four babies and lots of elderly people on board.

"The crew have given up trying to explain the situation to people, and it has ended up in fisticuffs. Several men are also arguing with the captain. This guy in his fifties is so worked up he is being given oxygen."

As Ms Lancaster was talking, a male cabin crew member could be heard over the intercom saying: "If any of our crew have been rude to you, we apologise for that.

"We need the passengers to hold their horses and calm down."

The steward then appeared to blame the delay on the passengers, stating: "You have two options. Either there will be a police investigation or people should calm down and let us leave."

Police were called but no arrests were made and the flight eventually took off at 8pm.

Speaking from Beirut, one London-based businessman today said: "The stewards told us there would be delays due to the bad weather. After four hours, one man had a bit too much to drink and began bouncing around and had to be removed.

"The atmosphere was very tense and a middle-aged man told the crew member he was an idiot and that was when the pushing and shoving began. The captain came out once and I told him he had failed in his duty, to which he replied that I should fly the plane."

Another passenger, who did not want to be named, said: "By mid-afternoon, there was mutiny. The crew had thrown in the towel and gave up trying to tell passengers what was going on."

Today it was not clear why the passengers were forced to remain on board for seven hours. A source at BAA, which owns Heathrow, claimed it was a matter for Middle East Airlines, the national carrier of Lebanon.

Naima Kassir, UK and Ireland manager for the carrier, said: "Due to the creeping delay due to the weather, the passengers lost their temper. Some were in transit from Canada and must have been tired. They got abusive and intimidated the crew. Security were called to calm the situation.

"We missed our 1pm slot due to the disruption on board and the next slot offered to us was nearly seven hours later. We apologise and regret this.

"This is not something we encounter normally. We will be contacting the passengers and will take corrective action based on the investigation."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We were called at 5.50pm to reports of disturbance on a flight at Heathrow. There were no arrests and the flight went on its way."