Russian plane makes unplanned landing after hijacking attempt
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 1/22/2019, 10:49 a.m.
By Mary Ilyushina and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
(CNN) -- A commercial flight bound for Moscow made an emergency landing in western Siberia after a drunk passenger tried to hijack the aircraft, Russian media reported.
The man who attempted to divert the Aeroflot Boeing 737-8LJ on Tuesday has been detained, the airline said in a statement.
All passengers and crew members disembarked safely in the western Siberian town of Khanty-Mansiys, the airline added.
A local law enforcement source told state news agency TASS that according to preliminary information the man was intoxicated.
Aeroflot flight SU1515 took off from the Siberian city of Surgut at 12:55pm Moscow time (4:55am ET). Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the aircraft changed its course.
A spokesman from Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAC) told TASS that it was rerouted after a demand by one of the passengers.
Live air traffic data from FlightRadar24 showed the plane's route deviation.
The pilot then took the decision to divert the flight to Khanty-Mansiysk, landing at 2:18pm Moscow time.
Aeroflot said it has dispatched a reserve aircraft to the town to enable passengers to continue on to Moscow.
Earlier reports from state media suggested hooliganism had caused the flight to turn around.
