Peel police spent several hours talking to passengers of a flight from Moscow after a 41-year-old man believed to be heavily intoxicated died before the Aeroflot flight landed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
The man was a Russian national visiting Toronto, Aeroflot officials confirmed to CTV Thursday.
Witnesses said that a fight broke out during the flight.
Patrick Dennie was waiting for his wife at the airport, who was onboard the plane, and told CTV News that his wife told him, "A gentleman had been intoxicated and started a disturbance and the staff of the airline came in and had removed him."
Peel Regional Police say they are awaiting the results of an autopsy on the man's body. The results are expected by the end of the day or early tomorrow.
"Once we have the results from the post-mortem, we will have a better idea of what took place on the plane," Const. Samantha Nulle told CTV.ca Thursday morning.
Aeroflot officials in Toronto said they are speaking to their counterparts in Moscow and are preparing a news release. They would not comment on reports the dead man was possibly drunk.
Nulle said some passengers and witnesses on the Aeroflot flight are still to be interviewed, but that no passengers were being detained at this time.
"Obviously, we want to talk to everyone involved in the incident and that's where we are at," she said.
Nulle said she could not comment on the man's intoxication but that it would be taken under consideration in the investigation.
"Until we have results of the post-mortem, we won't know how much of a factor (the intoxication will be.)"
