Security breach on Lufthansa Belgrade flight

Monday, December 7, 2015

Lufthansa crew and passengers overpowered a man who tampered with a cabin door on a flights from Frankfurt to Belgrade yesterday, the German carrier said, insisting the safety of the plane had not been threatened. "A passenger got up and tried to do something with the door, but was stopped by crew members and other passengers", airline spokesman, Andreas Bartels, said. "The passenger was then restrained for the remainder of the flight in his seat and handed over to the authorities in Belgrade", he added. "It was a normal door, which of course cannot be opened in-flight ... it was not the cockpit door", he said, denying an earlier report on Serbian television. "The safety of the flight was not jeopardised and the flight landed safely in Belgrade". Mr Bartels declined to provide details of the passenger's identity or nationality, or what the man said during the incident. Serbia's public broadcaster, RTS, reported that police had arrested a Jordanian man after he tried to force his way into the cockpit. It said the man suddenly got up during the flight, banged on the cockpit door and demanded to be allowed to enter, threatening to open one of the Airbus A319's external doors while it was flying over Austria. The man, who the Serbian press said had a US passport, had shouted that he wished to join Allah along with all the passengers. Flight crew and members of a Serbian handball team overpowered him and kept him subdued until the flight landed in Belgrade where he was arrested. The head of the handball team's club, Milan Djukić, who was on the flight, said the man had seemed "nervous" before boarding the plane. "I exchanged a few words with him and he was very nervous. Before takeoff, the flight attendants made him change seats three times", Mr Djukić said. "When he got up, he crossed through the business class section and started banging on a door demanding for that of the cockpit to be opened", he added, noting, "A crew member and one of our coaches calmed him down and persuaded him to sit back down". For the rest of the flight, "these two men and two of our players kept him company so that he would stay calm", Djukić concluded. After the plane landed, Serbian police boarded and arrested the man. He is being held in custody for 48 accused of "provoking general danger".