Explosives scare forces down plane
Sunday, 23 December, 2001, 00:36 GMT
The flight landed at Logan and the man was detained
An American Airlines plane has diverted to
Boston after explosives were found in a
passenger's shoe.
Flight 63 was bound from Paris to Miami,
carrying 185 passengers and 12 crew.
The Boeing 767 plane was escorted in to land
at Boston's Logan airport by two F-15 fighter
jets.
Tom Kinton, director of aviation at Logan, said
the crew on board had subdued the passenger
and prevented "something serious" from
happening.
Airport officials said the suspect was travelling
on a false British passport, issued in the name
of Richard Reid in Belgium three weeks ago.
A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office told
the Associated Press it was seeking consular
access as was customary in cases involving UK
citizens.
Sulphur smell
Mr Kinton said that the man, apparently in his
late twenties, had attempted to ignite an
"improvised explosive" in his footwear.
"I'm told the flight attendant was drawn to him
by the smell of sulphur from a lit match, and
then challenged him as to what he was doing,"
said Mr Kinton.
The flight attendant
also saw a wire sticking
out of the shoe.
The 1.95 metre (6 ft 4
in) man became violent
when tackled by cabin
staff, resisting and
biting at least one flight
attendant.
Passengers help to
control him, and he was
strapped into a seat, where he was sedated
by two doctors.
He is now being questioned by officials from
the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
An X-ray of the shoe revealed enough
explosives to cause significant destruction.
"They X-rayed the shoe and found that in the
heel, there were holes drilled, and there looked
to be a detonator wire, and the substances
consistent with [the explosive] C-4," airport
official Laura White said.
C-4 is a military plastic explosive, whose main
ingredient is also used in fireworks. The
whitish, putty-like substance can be easily
moulded by hand, and can be detonated if
burned.
It was used in the October 2000 bombing of
the USS Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 US
sailors and wounded 39.
New York crash
The incident is another blow to American
Airlines, following the crash of its Flight 587,
shortly after leaving New York's Kennedy
airport on 13 November.
The crash killed 260 on board and several
others on the ground.
Some of those who were killed had survived
the 11 September attacks in New York.
Although the cause of the crash is suspected
to be accidental rather than a deliberate act,
it damaged further the reputation of the
airline.
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