A Russian citizen tried to hijack an Aeroflot airliner on
Thursday but was overpowered allowing the aircraft to make an
emergency landing in Prague, officials said.
The perpetrator was "pacified" on board, airport spokeswoman
Pavlina Hajkova said.
The spokeswoman told media later that the man, a Russian
citizen, was taken into custody by Czech police.
The Airbus A320 flying from Moscow to Geneva, made the emergency
landing in Prague shortly before 11 AM (10:00 GMT), said
Hajkova.
Czech news reports said 170 passengers were on board.
An Aeroflot official in Moscow confirmed the news, saying that
the emergency landing was made because of a rogue passenger.
"The preliminary version is that this was a case of
hooliganism," Lev Koshlyakov, Aeroflot's deputy chief executive,
commented on Russian state television.
He added that the passenger had been misbehaving and threatening
that he had an explosive device. Russian media reported the
passenger was drunk.
"A drunk person was on board. He provoked a brawl with
passengers, threatened to damage the plane and demanded that it
change the course," Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The crew opted for an emergency landing after prior coordination
with local authorities, the news agency said.
After landing, the plane taxied to an outer area of the airport,
where it was surrounded by emergency vehicles, airport officials
said.
Czech law enforcement officers removed the rogue passenger from
the plane. Nobody on board was hurt, and no bomb was found.
Koshlyakov said that the plane was now preparing to continue its
scheduled flight to Geneva. This is the latest in a series of
incidents aboard Aeroflot flights that have suffered a series of
hijackings in the early 1990s.
(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)
