Man attempts to hijack Alitalia flight

Alitalia cabin crew restrain would-be hijacker on Paris to Rome flight with 131 passengers on board An attempt to hijack a plane to Libya was foiled on Sunday night by the cabin crew, according to the Italian airline, Alitalia. Italy’s Ansa news agency said the would-be hijacker was armed with a small knife. He was thought to be from Kazakhstan. The incident took place on a flight from Paris to Rome with 131 passengers on board. Alitalia identified it as flight AZ 329 which had taken off from Paris at 8.24pm local time. The airline said in a statement: “A passenger in an evident state of agitation assaulted a flight attendant, demanding that the flight be diverted to Tripoli. Thanks to the swift intervention of the other flight attendants the attacker was restrained in his seat and the flight continued towards Rome Fiumicino where it landed normally at 21.55.” Ansa reported that, after he was immobilised, the would-be hijacker was sedated by a doctor who was among the passengers. The crew radioed ahead to alert the police who escorted the man from the plane. Early on Monday, he was reportedly being interrogated by officers of the Italian frontier police. The flight attendant who had been seized was taken to a first aid post, but she was found not to have been seriously hurt in the incident. Italy Libya Europe John Hooper guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.