A 21-year old Zimbabwean man is in police custody after holding a hypodermic needle to an air hostess’s throat on a South African Airways flight on Saturday.
Police said the man, whom they believe to be mentally disturbed, had apparently wanted to force the pilot to fly to Maputo.
Cape Town resident Yunus Ismail told the Mail & Guardian Online was sitting in his business class seat when he saw the man walking towards the cockpit with an air hostess.
”He shouted, ‘If you don’t open the door I’ll kill her,”’ Ismail said on Saturday night.
”Three of us jump up … we got such a fright … and then they cuffed him,” he said.
The plane then flew back to Cape Town and a police task force stormed the plane and arrested the suspect. Passengers were instructed to put their hands on their heads.
Ismail said one passenger had been struck in the face by a member of the task force.
The Sunday TImes quoted Cape Town photographer Roger Sedres (37), who was seated next to the suspected hijacker, as saying he was well-dressed and had acted strangely from the time he boarded.
”He kept on fiddling with his phone and putting his hand in his pockets. He did not say a word or greet me.”
Sedres told the paper he had immediately known an attempted hijacking was in progress when, about 35 minutes into the flight, the man suddenly got up from his 22C aisle seat, walked about 20m towards the front of the plane and grabbed an air hostess.
”He said something but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.” said the Sunday Times
The man was then immediately tackled and handcuffed by a group of passengers, including an off-duty pilot.
”It was an attempted hijacking … but at no point did he come close to entering the cockpit. At this stage we have no understanding of what his specific demands were,” SAA spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan told the paper.
Police spokesperson Inspector Bernadine Steyn said the man would remain in custody while charges were formulated. – Sapa and Staff Reporter