Bomber Suspect Overpowered on Transatlantic Flight
reuters.com
December 22, 2001 08:39 PM ET
By Leslie Gevirtz
BOSTON (Reuters) - Flight attendants and passengers on a flight from Paris to Miami on Saturday overpowered a man who appeared to be trying to blow the plane up with explosives packed in his shoes, U.S. aviation officials said.
They said American Airlines Flight 63 -- a Boeing 767 carrying 185 passengers and 12 crew -- was diverted to Boston's Logan International Airport after the mid-air drama over the Atlantic.
Officials at Logan airport told a news conference a man who appeared to be "of Middle Eastern descent" traveling on a false British passport had been arrested.
Tom Kinton, director of aviation at Logan International airport in Boston, said the flight attendants and other passengers who tackled the man "prevented something very serious from occurring".
He said a flight attendant had approached the man when he lit a match in mid-flight.
"The flight attendants became alerted to the smell of sulfur ... and immediately took action when they saw what this individual was attempting to do and literally tackled the individual and got into a wrestling match in an attempt to stop this action," Kinton said.
"The flight attendants were hurt during this, and yelled for help from other passengers and received that help from other passengers on board the aircraft," he said.
"I do believe... when he was attempted to be subdued, he said he was wired, words to that effect."
Kinton said the man had been carrying "enough improvised explosives to do damage".
"At this time it appears that the shoes did contain detcord (detonation cord) and some form of improvised explosives, C4 in nature... we can't be 100 percent certain of that, the shoes are being analyzed by the FBI," he said. C4 is a powerful explosive used by the military.
CNN reported that during the struggle the man had bitten a woman flight attendant. It said other passengers had used their belts to tie him up and doctors on the plane had given him sedatives three times.
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials believed the man's passport, issued three weeks ago in Belgium in the name of Richard Reid, was bogus, a Massachusetts Port Authority spokeswoman told Reuters. The authority operates Logan International Airport.
Two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jets escorted the aircraft to Logan International airport.
Airports around the world have stepped up security following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in which four aircraft were hijacked and about 3,000 people were killed. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush had been briefed on the incident. "The White House has been monitoring the situation since early on today," he said.
McClellan said the FBI was leading the investigation. |
