Danish authorities probe deportee plane incident

By Davut Colak

COPENHAGEN

An Algerian man died after he lost consciousness during a struggle with Danish police on board an aircraft set to deport him from the country.

According to the Ekstra Bladet newspaper on Friday, Denmark’s Independent Police Complaints Authority will investigate Monday’s incident in which the 34-year-old first lost consciousness then died in hospital two days later.

The incident happened as the man was being escorted by police as part of a deportation to Paris.

A witness, Michael Thorvaldsson, 53, who was on board the aircraft, told Ekstra Bladet the incident seemed "violent".

“I was in seat 22A, and the Algerian man was in 23F, so I was almost next to him. [...] I could see that there were three officers on him. Two of them were lying on him, and the third was holding him back in his seat," he said.

The struggle lasted about half an hour before the Algerian deportee fell silent, the witness said.

Thorvaldsson said the officers then asked whether there was a doctor on board, and one stepped in until an ambulance arrived.

Danish officials have not released the victim's name.