Man Yelling 'Jihad' In Denver-bound Flight Tackled By Fellow Passengers

By R. Siva Kumar - 18 Mar '15 05:05AM

Passengers flying in United Airlines pre-empted an ugly situation when they stopped a young co-passenger who yelled "jihad! jihad!" and threatened to hijack the plane, according to indiatvnews.

United Flight 1074, which was flying to Denver, came back to Dulles International Airport outside Washington DC, after the passengers stopped a man who shouted "jihad! jihad!", according to comments posted on Reddit.

The LiveATC.net that offered an audio of the air traffic control transmissions conveyed to the air traffic controllers that one passenger began to act violently but was quietened by the others, according to foxnews.

"He ran forward towards the cockpit, and he is being restrained by passengers," one of the pilots said. "Cockpit is secure, and we would like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet him."

The flight came back to Dulles at around 10:40 p.m. after there was some "disturbance onboard," said Kimberly Gibbs, a spokeswoman for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, to New York Daily News. She was not aware of the exact details of the disturbance in the flight. The Boeing 737 had 33 passengers and 6 crewmen.

One of the passengers, Donna Tellam, confirmed that two men grabbed and pinned him down, according to abcnews.

"One held his feet and the other one kind of laid on top of him and then the flight attendants went and got some plastic restraints for his arms," she said. "At one point when his head was down he said there were jihadists in the cargo hold and he did say jihad a couple times."

The law enforcement personnel stopped the aircraft at the gate and arrested the "jihad" passenger, taking him for evaluation to the hospital.

Videos were posted, showing the man with bruises on his face, who had been "subdued" by the plane's passengers, after he ran towards the cockpit. One video showed him crying, "I'm sorry", while another voice orders him "not to move".

The plane was getting ready to take off again for Denver International Airport.