Air China Flight Diverts After Passenger Threatens Flight Attendant With Pen

April 15, 2018

•

2 min read

Air China Flight Diverts After Passenger Threatens Flight Attendant With Pen

This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.

An Air China flight was diverted after a passenger held a flight attendant in a threatening position with a fountain pen, China's civil aviation authority said.

Air China Flight 1350 from Changsha (CSX) to Beijing (PEK) diverted to Zhengzhou (CGO) on Sunday after a male passenger threatened a flight attendant. In a statement on its website, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAA) said that the man used a fountain pen to hold the flight attendant "under duress."

"I think someone uttered a cry, which woke us," one passenger recounted, according to The Straits Times. "Everyone was sleeping... it was a woman's cry. Nobody knew what was going on." The passenger said that the crew kept passengers calm and in their seats during the incident.

The CAA said in its statement that after the flight made its emergency landing, both passengers and crew were unharmed. A preliminary investigation concluded that the 41-year-old passenger, only identified by his last name Xu, has a "history of mental illness."

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 (registration B-1958), landed at CGO intact. However, an alternate aircraft was sent to the airport to take passengers onto their final destination of Beijing, Air China said in a statement.

H/T: Reuters