COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – A man who tried to hijack an Air Seychelles plane on a flight from the Indian city of Bombay to the Seychelles was overpowered by the cabin crew Monday, officials said.
The man was arrested when the plane landed at its stopover in Male, the capital of Maldives, an island nation about 300 miles off the Indian coast.
Crew members and passengers seized the man as "he tried to enter the cockpit flashing a knife," Maldives' Foreign Secretary A. Shaheed told The Associated Press over the telephone.
Monday's hijack attempt comes at a time when security has been tightened at airports across the world ahead of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.
The 41-year-old suspect was carrying an Indian passport and wanted to divert the Boeing 737 to some other destination, Shaheed said. There were about 200 people, mostly Indian nationals, on board, he added.
Air Seychelles' office in Bombay declined to comment and Indian civil aviation authorities said they were awaiting details from Maldives.
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