Crew members from a British Airways flight have been left “shaken” after a pilot was kidnapped and tortured during a stopover in South Africa.
The First Officer was shopping at a supermarket when a woman approached to ask him to help her carry her bags to her car.
A group of men pushed him inside as the pair approached the vehicle.
The unnamed pilot, who was reportedly driven to a remote area of Johannesburg, was “badly roughened up”.
A British Airways plane takes off from Heathrow AirportPAHe was forced to cough up “thousands and thousands of pounds”, according to The Sun.
The pilot was unfit to fly the plane back to London and British Airways arranged for a replacement to get in the cockpit.
He has been off work since and received support from his colleagues.
A source said: “It’s staggering what happened to the pilot.
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A general view of the Johannesburg skyline
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“It was like something out of the movies.
“He fell for the scam of agreeing to help a woman in need, and before he knew it was bundled in a vehicle and driven away.
“He then endured hours of torture and physical assaults.
“It only ended when he was left penniless. He is just happy to be alive. The incident has shaken crew.”
British Airways plane taking offPABritish Airways has banned staff from certain parts of the South African city.
The crew’s hotel is in Melrose Arch which is meant to be the safest area of the City of Gold.
Johannesburg ranked as the third most crime-ridden city in South Africa last year, narrowly behind Pretoria and Durban.
BA said: “A crew member was abducted outside Checkers Bluebird supermarket just north of the Melrose Arch complex.”