Brit heroes took down ‘jet bomber’
They act as student storms cockpit
TWO heroic Britons disarmed a man threatening to blow up a plane.
Scott Lodge and Robert Macdonald leapt into action when student Manodh Marks, 25, tried to storm the cockpit.
With other passengers they overpowered the Sri Lankan and tied him down.
Witnesses said he was shouting: “I’m going to blow up this plane.”
Scott, on his way to visit the UK after moving to Australia seven months ago, told of “pandemonium” on the flight from Melbourne to Malaysia.
He said: “Once he’s stood up and started heading toward the cockpit the blood just disappeared out of my body. I knew where this was going.
“The sheer shock and dread that I felt was massive. No one is going to sit there. I don’t remember doing it. It was just natural instinct. It was really weird.
“The man was fumbling around and got a device out of his bag. We pulled his arm away from his body because we thought he had a device in his hand.”
Robert, returning to Scotland after visiting relatives in Oz, said: “We pushed the guy on to the floor and cabin crews put cords on him. It was just my instinct to get up and help.”
The Malaysia Airlines jet with 337 on board returned to Melbourne.
Passengers were angry that police waited 90 minutes before boarding.
Marks, recently discharged from hospital, was charged with endangering aircraft safety. His “bomb” was a speaker.