Washington-bound plane diverted after security alert

[Edwin P K 0]

 

Washington-bound plane diverted after security alert

By Adam Fresco

 

A flight from London to Washington was diverted to Boston today, flanked by fighter jets, after a passenger was found to have a screwdriver, matches and a note with a reference to al-Qaeda on her.

 

State police in Boston have taken control of United Airlines Flight 923 with 182 passengers and 12 crew members on board. All the passengers have disembarked and their luggage and hand baggage is being taken off and searched.

 

United Airlines is one of a number of US airlines reportedly targeted in an alleged plot, foiled by British police and security forces last week, to blow up commercial flights over the Atlantic.

 

Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for Boston’s Logan International Airport, said that the woman in question also had some vaseline on her.

 

Unruly passenger forces US plane diversion

 

Transport officials say a Washington-bound United Airlines flight from London has been diverted to Boston after a confrontation with an unruly passenger. "There was an altercation with at least one female passenger," a United Airlines spokeswoman said.

 

A federal law enforcement official says the woman had an anxiety attack.

 

But media reports say the woman had Vaseline, a screwdriver, matches and a note on the Islamic militant group Al Qaeda.

 

There has been no immediate comment on the reports.

 

"I don't believe she has any ties to terrorism," the official said.

 

Police say they have arrested one person but declined to say who it was.

 

Air passengers have been subjected to heightened security since British authorities said last Thursday (local time) they had foiled a plot to blow up planes from London to the United States.

 

British police made two dozen arrests.

 

US Transportation and Security Administration spokeswoman Amy Von Walter says the flight, United 923 from London Heathrow, was escorted by fighter jets and landed without incident in Boston, 720 kilometres from Washington.

 

The plane, carrying 182 passengers and 12 crew, had been headed to Dulles airport near Washington. The captain declared a security emergency.

 

"There was a supposed confrontation on board. There may have been a banned item on board and they are now searching the luggage," Phil Orlandella said, a spokesman at Boston's Logan International Airport.

 

Passengers on flights from Britain have been barred from carrying gels and liquids.

 

-Reuters

 

 

Flight diverted to Boston over passenger disturbance

 

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Fighter jets escorted a London-to-Washington, D.C., flight to Boston's Logan airport Wednesday after the pilot declared an emergency because an apparently claustrophobic passenger caused a disturbance, a federal official said.

 

The federal security official said there was no indication of terrorism and denied reports that the woman had a screw driver, matches and a note referring to al-Qaeda.

 

The female passenger aboard United Flight 923 said she was claustrophobic and became very upset and got into some kind of confrontation with the flight crew, said George Naccara, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts' airport.

 

The disturbance -- coming just a week after authorities in London said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights -- was enough to concern the pilot to issue an alert, which activated two fighter jets to escort the flight into Logan, Naccara said.

 

Naccara said he did not believe any items she was carrying were the cause of the outburst. An airport spokesman previously said the woman was carrying lotion, a screw driver and matches, but backed off the statement, and Naccara said it wasn't true.

 

The flight, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely, UAL Corp. spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

 

State Police and federal agencies took control of the plane after it landed.

 

Passengers were taken off the plane and loaded onto a bus. Naccara said the passengers were being interviewed. He had no information whether passengers had helped to subdue her.

 

Passenger luggage was removed from the plane and put on the tarmac, where it was rechecked by security officials and trained dogs.

 

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Seth K 3]

Wow, so fast the fighters respond, thought the Air Force never do their job

This incident how poor the UK sceener/sceeners are

[Imran K. 0]

Hmm...sounds like one hell of a prank to me