Flight diverted after man holds out threat with pen
beijing — An Air China flight bound for Beijing was diverted to central China on Sunday after a passenger held a flight attendant hostage using a pen as a weapon, authorities said.
All passengers and crew on Flight 1350 made it safely off the plane after it landed in Zhengzhou city at 10am due to what had earlier been described by authorities as an unspecified ‘illegal interference.’ The flight had taken off at 8:40am from the city of Changsha in Hunan province and was scheduled to land in Beijing at 11am.
The Civil Aviation Authority of China said in a statement that the plane was diverted when a male passenger held a flight attendant hostage. It said only that “the matter was successfully handled” by 1:17pm, but did not provide any details.
Police in Zhengzhou’s Henan province said in a statement that the alleged hostage-taker had a history of mental illness and suffered an unspecified ‘sudden’ psychological
The plane was diverted when a male passenger held a flight attendant hostage... the matter was successfully handled.” China’s Civil Aviation Authority
disorder when he grabbed the flight attendant. It identified the man by only his surname, Xu, and said he was 41 and from Anhua, a county in Hunan. Police arrested him at about 1 pm, according to the statement.
In a brief report on the microblog Weibo.com, state broadcaster China Central Television included an image of what appeared to be paramilitary police in combat uniforms and helmets assembled outside a Zhengzhou airport hotel and another image of several ambulances.
The Zhengzhou airport said in a statement that it immediately activated emergency measures, adding that the passengers who disembarked were in a stable mood and that the airport was operating normally. The airline said police and aviation authorities were handling the matter and refused to provide further information. It said it was arranging for another plane to pick up the passengers from Zhengzhou.
The Beijing News said that a passenger described being awoken by a scream coming from the front of the plane and that “nobody knew what was going on.” —