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Passenger films toddler's eight-hour tantrum on international flight

A passenger has posted video of a child's tantrum he said lasted eight hours on an international flight from Germany to New York.

New York City artist Shane Townley recorded the toddler's outbursts on board a Lufthansa flight from Germany to Newark on August 26, 2017. The little boy begins screaming before the flight takes off.

According to the Mail Online, it's believed the child has a disability.

Mr Townley uploaded the video of what he describes as "demonic screams" taking over the plane before the mum asks the flight attendant to get the WiFi turned on "so we can get the iPad going".

The child moves around the aisle. Source: YouTube/ Shane Townley
The child moves around the aisle. Source: YouTube/ Shane Townley

The child begins to run down the aisles, and while he remains quiet for a moment, he soon begins screaming again. Mr Townley said he was "free to create chaos".

Someone says, "your mum's right here", but he continues to scream. Another passenger is seen placing her hands over her ears as the toddler bellows.

Mr Townley said the mum let the kid "do whatever" he wanted throughout the flight. He's seen sitting on the head of a chair.

The toddler's mum tells him to "calm down", but he wails. The video shows a time lapse of the next seven hours until passengers depart the plane. The child is still heard screaming.

As they finally enter the airport, one passenger is heard saying, "That was a nightmare. Eight hours of screaming".

Shane Townley, the man who filmed the incident, said the kid screamed for eight hours. Source: YouTube/ Shane Townley
Shane Townley, the man who filmed the incident, said the kid screamed for eight hours. Source: YouTube/ Shane Townley

The video has more than 500,000 views on YouTube.

On Twitter, it's divided opinion. Some have criticised Mr Townley for sharing the video and labelling the child's screams as "demonic" if it's true the toddler has a disability.

"Try living with it 24/7," one user said, referring to the child's parents.

Another said being on that flight "would be tough indeed but so is having a child with disabilities".

One user suggested the parents needed to take more responsibility for the kid's behaviour.

"Seriously please control your child. You're not the only one that is on that plane," the user tweeted.

One woman was more sympathetic towards the passengers though.

"Disability or not, eight hours of that must have been a nightmare for everyone on the flight," she tweeted.