SABC : Unruly passenger forces emergency landing in US

Unruly passenger forces emergency landing in US

SABC News | August 16, 2006

A Washington-bound United Airlines flight from London made an emergency landing in Boston today after a woman suffering from claustrophobia became unruly, but there was no apparent terrorist threat, police and security officials said.

Flight 923, carrying 182 passengers and 12 crew, was escorted by fighter jets to Boston where it landed without incident, said Amy Von Walter, a US transportation security administration spokesperson. Police said they arrested one person but declined to say who it was. "There was an altercation with at least one female passenger," a United Airlines spokesperson said. A federal law enforcement official said the woman had an anxiety attack. "There are no known links to terrorism regarding this event at this time," said Christopher White, a transportation security administration spokesperson.

Nenette Day, a spokesperson with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Boston, said the 60-year-old woman was apparently claustrophobic and became disruptive on the flight. "This is not just an 'I want another drink kind of thing,' it was a disruption that caused them to divert the plane," Day said. Air passengers have been subjected to heightened security since British authorities said last Thursday they had foiled a plot to blow up planes from London to the United States. British police made two dozen arrests.

"There was a supposed confrontation on board. There may have been a banned item on board and they are now searching the luggage," said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman at Boston's Logan International Airport. He said the passengers were being interviewed by police before being put on alternative flights.

He declined to comment on a media report attributed to him that the woman had Vaseline, a screwdriver, matches and a note on the Islamic militant group al Qaeda. The FBI's Day said none of those items showed up in searches of her belongings. Live television broadcasts showed airport rescue workers surrounding the plane while dogs sniffed for explosives in luggage laid out in lines on the ground. At least half a dozen police vans were on the tarmac.

- Reuters