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British Paralympian Claire Harvey has said that she was forced to drag herself off a Qatar Airways plane after the crew supposedly manhandled her off her seat. She went on to add that she was ‘completely humiliated’ and had no other option but to drag herself off the plane after she was provided no assistance by the flight crew, reported the BBC.
Harvey, who suffered a shoulder injury and pulled out of the International Paralympic Committee World Championship, was forced to use the cabin chairs as monkey bars because airline staff failed to provide a wheelchair, she told the BBC's Radio 4.
Claire went on to add how an airline staff member referred to her as "the wheelchair" even before she boarded the flight. The cabin crew then gave her the aisle seat instead of a window seat, and passengers had to climb over her to access the bathroom and exit.
"I tried to manoeuvre myself out of the way and they had to literally climb over me," she told Radio 4.
Manhandled by crew
After the plane landed in London and other passengers had disembarked, Harvey was manhandled by a male steward, who did not provide her with an aisle wheelchair and asked her to walk all the way to the front of the plane to get off.
"[He] started to manhandle me and said 'you have to get to the front of the plane'. Bear in mind I was 49 rows back," the Paralympian said.
"[I said] 'I don't know who you expect me to do that?" Ms Harvey told Radio 4.
"So I ended up having to utilise the seats either side of the aisle to sort of, literally like monkey bars, take my weight on my hands and drag myself to the front of the plane with him behind me pushing me to go faster," she said.
She went on to add that it was not only extremely humiliating but also, that this put a lot of strain on her shoulder which she had come home to rest so as to get ready for the Rio Olympics next year.
"Which of course, is both humiliating, very difficult but most importantly I'd come home early to rest my shoulder so that it could heal as quickly as possible in order that I can be a ready as I can be for Rio [Paralympics] selection," she said.
After getting off the flight, she also found her wheelchair frame bent and brakes snapped off. Qatar Airways issued a statement saying that the crew had been trained to offer assistance and were looking into the matter. The airlines also said that they would deal directly with Harvey, who has not heard from them even 11 days after the incident.
