Authorities Say Man Has A History Of Mental Illness

In the second incident this month, passengers have foiled an attempted hijacking of another airliner headed for Russia by overpowering an unruly person claiming to have a bomb.

Tass news agency today reported a Boeing 737 operated by Sky Express was enroute from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to Moscow with about 150 people aboard when a passenger began shouting "Allahu Akhbar" and threatened to blow up the plane unless it diverted to Vienna.

Other passengers aboard the flight were able to subdue the man, and no injuries were reported, the Associated Press said.

An unnamed representative of the Federal Security Service said the disruptive passenger had been identified and that he was believed to have a record of mental illness, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

The plane landed at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport about 30 minutes behind schedule and security officers were evacuating the passengers, the reports said. Further comments from Sky Express and Russian security officials were unavailable.

As ANN reported earlier this month, on October 15 an inebriated man claiming to have a bomb attempted to hijack a Turkish Airlines flight was overpowered by passengers, and the plane landed safely in St. Petersburg.

FMI: http://www.skyexpress.ru/en/showcase/