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Man Stabs 2 People on Australian Jetliner
By JAMIE TARABAY
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A would-be hijacker armed with wooden stakes stabbed two flight attendants as he tried to break into the pit of an Australian jetliner Thursday, apparently in an attempt to crash the plane, the government said.
Cabin crew and passengers on the domestic flight carrying 53 people overpowered and disarmed the man.
``We believe he was trying to take over the plane,'' Australian Federal Police agent Stephen Cato was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press.
Federal Transport Minister John Anderson described the man as ``less than stable'' and said the attack did not appear linked to ism.
The attack, one of the worst in Australian aviation history, happened about 10 minutes after the Qantas flight took off from Melbourne for Launceston in the island state of Tasmania.
The Boeing 717 was forced to return to Melbourne, where police arrested the 40-year-old man, who reportedly is Australian. The injured flight attendants, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, were hospitalized in stable condition.
Cato said no motive had been established.
Australia, a close ally of the United States, is currently on a heightened level of alert in the aftermath of the Iraq war, in which it took part with American forces.
Anderson said the man seemed intent on trying to crash the plane.
The man shouted threats as he attempted to storm the locked pit, authorities said. Anderson said there were no sky marshals on board.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the man, armed with two 6-inch stakes, emerged from the seventh row and tried to pass some cabin crew members on his way to the pit shouting threats. He stabbed them as they tried to push him back toward the rear of the plane, authorities said.
``He never got to the pit,'' Dixon said. He said the door was of standard design, and not a reinforced security . However, it was locked during the flight.
The male attendant had a gash in the back of his head and other cuts. The woman had facial cuts, Dixon said. Two passengers also were slightly injured as they and the crew restrained the man and bound his hands with plastic straps.
The transport minister said the wooden weapons had gone through security checks unnoticed, calling the oversight a ``lesson about unforeseen tools being used.''
``We'll leave no stone unturned; plainly we don't want to see a repeat of this,'' Anderson said.
Passengers praised the male flight attendant, whose name has not been released, for trying to subdue the attacker after he was stabbed in the back of his head.
``The steward had a lot of on the back of his neck. He was good, very good, very brave,'' passenger Joe Da Costa said. ``The steward tried to confront (the man) and that's why he got stabbed.''
Passenger Keith Charlton was among six passengers who helped bring down the man.
He said he was seated in the third row when a man in a ``brown suit raced past me with his hands raised in the air'' before attacking the attendants.
It was too soon to say what charges the suspect might face, police spokeswoman Jane O'Brien said. His name would be released after charges are filed, she said.
05/29/03 12:28
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
By JAMIE TARABAY
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A would-be hijacker armed with wooden stakes stabbed two flight attendants as he tried to break into the pit of an Australian jetliner Thursday, apparently in an attempt to crash the plane, the government said.
Cabin crew and passengers on the domestic flight carrying 53 people overpowered and disarmed the man.
``We believe he was trying to take over the plane,'' Australian Federal Police agent Stephen Cato was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press.
Federal Transport Minister John Anderson described the man as ``less than stable'' and said the attack did not appear linked to ism.
The attack, one of the worst in Australian aviation history, happened about 10 minutes after the Qantas flight took off from Melbourne for Launceston in the island state of Tasmania.
The Boeing 717 was forced to return to Melbourne, where police arrested the 40-year-old man, who reportedly is Australian. The injured flight attendants, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, were hospitalized in stable condition.
Cato said no motive had been established.
Australia, a close ally of the United States, is currently on a heightened level of alert in the aftermath of the Iraq war, in which it took part with American forces.
Anderson said the man seemed intent on trying to crash the plane.
The man shouted threats as he attempted to storm the locked pit, authorities said. Anderson said there were no sky marshals on board.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the man, armed with two 6-inch stakes, emerged from the seventh row and tried to pass some cabin crew members on his way to the pit shouting threats. He stabbed them as they tried to push him back toward the rear of the plane, authorities said.
``He never got to the pit,'' Dixon said. He said the door was of standard design, and not a reinforced security . However, it was locked during the flight.
The male attendant had a gash in the back of his head and other cuts. The woman had facial cuts, Dixon said. Two passengers also were slightly injured as they and the crew restrained the man and bound his hands with plastic straps.
The transport minister said the wooden weapons had gone through security checks unnoticed, calling the oversight a ``lesson about unforeseen tools being used.''
``We'll leave no stone unturned; plainly we don't want to see a repeat of this,'' Anderson said.
Passengers praised the male flight attendant, whose name has not been released, for trying to subdue the attacker after he was stabbed in the back of his head.
``The steward had a lot of on the back of his neck. He was good, very good, very brave,'' passenger Joe Da Costa said. ``The steward tried to confront (the man) and that's why he got stabbed.''
Passenger Keith Charlton was among six passengers who helped bring down the man.
He said he was seated in the third row when a man in a ``brown suit raced past me with his hands raised in the air'' before attacking the attendants.
It was too soon to say what charges the suspect might face, police spokeswoman Jane O'Brien said. His name would be released after charges are filed, she said.
05/29/03 12:28
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
