Man Who Tried To Hijack Paris-Rome Alitalia Flight Is Overpowered

ROME (Reuters) - A man with a knife tried to hijack an Alitalia flight from Paris to Rome Sunday night, demanding it be flown to Libya, but was quickly overpowered and arrested when the plane landed, officials and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the man put a small knife to the throat of a female flight attendant and held her for a few minutes.

"The man grabbed the stewardess from behind her back and pointed the knife. She was in difficulty and tried to turn around," a passenger named Sofia told reporters.

Stefanie, a French woman who lives in Italy, said the man laughed when the stewardess asked him to go the front of the plane with her.

"He held her for just a few minutes and then the other flight attendants intervened and passengers helped hold the man to the floor," she said.

Italian media said police had identified the man as a 48-year-old citizen of Kazakhstan who worked in Paris.

A statement from Alitalia airlines said the man had "assaulted a flight attendant and asked that the plane be taken to Tripoli."

Other attendants on flight AZ329 then overpowered the man, who was "clearly agitated" and the captain radioed police, who arrested the man when the plane landed, the statement said.

The flight attendant was taken to a first aid station at Rome airport for treatment of minor injuries.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Geoffrey Bieniek]

01:51 PM on 04/26/2011

A "man." Lol. You know huffpost, every time a "man" does something in your articles, we know he is muslim. Only one you are fooling is you. Sorry to disillusion you nice liberals. Your shocking lack of descriptors except for the nearly final word in the article where you state he is a "citizen" of Kazakhstan should only serve to embarrass you, not win you points in the arab community for your soooo noble colorblindess (except when the "man" is white, in which case a picture would have been included, most likely an extremely scary one). Which as most know is the defining benchmark for all your articles. So. Once again, your liberal slip is showing. It's disgusting, really wish you would watch that.

[Reno Fickler]

08:06 PM on 04/25/2011

Our paper said it was a "nail-clipper". Still.....my BBF is a FA, 5'6", 125, and as much as you might think of grabbing her.......big mistake. She can and will kick your butt. I showed her a WHOLE bunch of self-defense stuff they taught me in the Army.

[Razpooten]

07:16 PM on 04/25/2011

Sorry, didn't have..

[Razpooten]

07:15 PM on 04/25/2011

Apperantly, this Turk just wanted a free ride. didn't habe plan "B."

[dannywanny]

04:16 PM on 04/25/2011

If I can't get on a plane with nail clippers how did he board with a knife? Isn't this further proof that the current extensive personal searches are ineffective?

[BacSi]

04:23 PM on 04/25/2011

Only in a world where 100% perfection is expected 24/7.

The fact that this article seemed so out of place caught my attention. A very rare event----this attempt----I wonder why so rare?

[gwinegarden]

04:42 PM on 04/25/2011

I was wondering the same thing, but they said "small knife". No indication as to how small.

[CapsFan1988]

04:15 PM on 04/25/2011

my name is a borat, in kazakhstan my brother billo has bad mental retaaardation! he fly on plane and try to hijack with buttering knife! Then stewerdess and passangers says you can't have dis you can't havd dis!

[Mike Nemeth]

05:30 PM on 04/25/2011

perfect.

[TrucosR4Ninos]

04:03 PM on 04/25/2011

All flight attendants should be draq queens. Nothings gets passed those girls.

[Razpooten]

07:16 PM on 04/25/2011

You betcha honey.

[Bumpier Shrimp]

03:59 PM on 04/25/2011

I talked with a friend about how to combat these attempted crimes while on a plane, and he suggested a sedative to knock out all passengers before take off and then wake them up after landing. I thought that was an interesting idea. Obviously there are some major problems(allergies, complications, children, bombs on timers, etc, etc,) but given the measures we already in place I truly wonder if there will ever be a time when these types of crimes stop. BTW, I'm not advocating this idea, I just throught it was fascinating.

[TrucosR4Ninos]

04:01 PM on 04/25/2011

Errr., stolen items and waking up smelling funny.

[GodsHonestTruth]

04:25 PM on 04/25/2011

these days, most people are taking sedatives on their own.

a good idea for an airlines would be 'sleepair', where the flight attendants are nurses who inject sedatives, and gurney the passengers onto the plane.

on the other hand, i remember that dentist who...

[onionboy]

03:55 PM on 04/25/2011

Hijacking a plane from Paris to go to Tripoli instead of Rome? He risked his life and freedom for a detour. Dummy.

[whyus]

03:47 PM on 04/25/2011

And how did that knife get on the plane?

[blandphilosophy]

03:47 PM on 04/25/2011

It's refreshing to see something like this.

[DFL]

03:45 PM on 04/25/2011

Remember the old days when the hijackers always wanted to go to Cuba?

[g-moi]

03:40 PM on 04/25/2011

Flight attendants to the rescue again! Awesome.

[Razpooten]

07:18 PM on 04/25/2011

They ain't gonna take it no more!

[TXfemmom]

02:10 PM on 04/25/2011

undefined

[matthew callender]

01:55 PM on 04/25/2011

I hope this will not affect their potassium exportation.....

[Monk Monkey]

03:59 PM on 04/25/2011

Hahaha - nice