Passenger tries to hijack Bangkok-Abu Dhabi Gulf Air flight
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

JAN 28: "An Iraqi passenger, armed with a knife, tried to hijack the Airbus A340," said a Gulf Air statement.

"Crew members managed to overpower the hijacker and bind him. No passenger was injured," it said.

Earlier Abu Dhabi television reported that two crew members had been injured and that the flight was coming from Hong Kong. The report said the attempted hijacking was carried out by "more than one person".

The incident occurred at 1630 GMT (2200 IST) yesterday, three hours before Gulf Air flight 153 was scheduled to arrive in Abu Dhabi.

Gulf Air, based in Manama, belongs in equal parts to the governments of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.