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WATCH: 'Leave her alone' - passengers defend woman removed from Kulula flight

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Fellow commuters come to the aid of a passenger being removed from the flight. (Screengrab)
Fellow commuters come to the aid of a passenger being removed from the flight. (Screengrab)

New footage has emerged which shines more light on the events that led up to the removal of a passenger from a Kulula flight.

Earlier this week, video footage emerged of a scuffle between a passenger and police officers aboard the plane. 

In a statement, Kulula said police had been summoned after "the customer concerned became physically and verbally abusive towards the cabin controller and captain".

But eyewitnesses on the flight disputed the airline's claims.

Fellow passenger Sanele Gumede said the flight bound for Johannesburg was scheduled to depart at 21:55 on Friday, but the aircraft only left after 03:00 on Saturday.

Kulula attributed the delay to a weather disruption.

"One passenger was upset, she went and confronted the captain!" Gumede told News24.

"He [the captain] got irritated and announced that he wants her to be escorted out immediately, everyone was like 'hell no'!" he said.

WATCH: 'Unruly' passenger forcibly removed from Kulula flight

Now there is new footage and in it, passengers can be heard coming to the woman's defence.

"Just leave her alone," one passenger can be heard shouting.

"She's a customer, she has all the rights to complain," another says.

Gumede said the saga lasted more than two hours before they were told that the flight had been cancelled.

"After the entire drama that lasted about two hours and 20 minutes, the captain announced on the intercom that: 'This flight has been cancelled,'" he said.

"We then took our bags from the compartment and proceeded to get off the plane, when we got out they yanked the lady out the door and dragged her from the flight of stairs."

After the passengers got off the plane, they were instructed to board again and the aircraft departed for Johannesburg at around 03:00.

Kulula said the captain felt the safety of customers and crew might be compromised and therefore cancelled the flight.

"The situation escalated after the police came on board, to the point where the captain felt the safety of customers and crew might be compromised. He made the decision to cancel the flight," the airline said.

"Once all the customers had disembarked and the unruly customer was escorted away from the group by the police, the captain again assessed the situation.

"He decided it was safe to operate the service. The customers boarded the aircraft and the flight took off," Kulula added.

Gumede said they eventually landed in Johannesburg at 04:20 on Saturday.

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