PASSENGERS and stewards onboard a Qatar Airways plane heading to Qatar from Jordan overpowered an Eritrean passenger who tried to force his way into the cockpit, an airline spokeswoman said. She told Al Jazeera television that the Eritrean man, 21, was carrying a box containing an unknown substance, prompting the captain to return to Jordan immediately after the incident. | “It might not have been a hijack attempt ... he might have been psychologically ill...” |
“The captain declared an emergency onboard and landed in Amman, where the passenger was handed over to Jordanian security. Now the plane is about to take off for Doha with the remaining passengers,” she said, adding that all the passengers were unharmed.
Earlier, a passenger had described the scene to Al Jazeera. “Just after take-off, one of the passengers moved towards the cockpit and, when one of the flight attendants stood in his way, he hit him (the attendant),” Samir Samri, said. “It might not have been a hijack attempt ... he might have been psychologically ill,” he said. |