scotsfiancee
20th August 2006, 05:26
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 10:06am (Mla time) 08/20/2006
LONDON -- Two men were forced off a flight before it took off from the Spanish port of Malaga for the English city of Manchester after fellow passengers feared they might be terrorists, an airline said Sunday.
Some among the 150 passengers on board the Monarch Airlines flight demanded that air staff remove two men after they expressed alarm about their behavior early on Wednesday, a spokesman for the airline said.
Cabin crew informed Spanish authorities of the passengers' fears and the men -- who The Mail on Sunday said looked Asian and spoke Arabic -- were taken off the flight and questioned by police.
The pair flew back to Manchester later in the week and were not arrested by British police.
"There were two passengers on the flight who came to the attention of the other people because they were apparently acting suspiciously," a spokesman for Monarch Airlines said. "The flight attendants were sufficiently concerned to alert the crew who in turn informed the security authorities at Malaga airport. The passengers were off-loaded from the flight."
The spokesman refused to give details of what the men had done to arouse their fellow passengers' suspicions.
The plane had been due to take off at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT) but was in fact delayed by around three hours.
The Mail on Sunday said some passengers stormed off the Airbus 320 aircraft and refused to fly unless the pair was removed.
Last updated 10:06am (Mla time) 08/20/2006
LONDON -- Two men were forced off a flight before it took off from the Spanish port of Malaga for the English city of Manchester after fellow passengers feared they might be terrorists, an airline said Sunday.
Some among the 150 passengers on board the Monarch Airlines flight demanded that air staff remove two men after they expressed alarm about their behavior early on Wednesday, a spokesman for the airline said.
Cabin crew informed Spanish authorities of the passengers' fears and the men -- who The Mail on Sunday said looked Asian and spoke Arabic -- were taken off the flight and questioned by police.
The pair flew back to Manchester later in the week and were not arrested by British police.
"There were two passengers on the flight who came to the attention of the other people because they were apparently acting suspiciously," a spokesman for Monarch Airlines said. "The flight attendants were sufficiently concerned to alert the crew who in turn informed the security authorities at Malaga airport. The passengers were off-loaded from the flight."
The spokesman refused to give details of what the men had done to arouse their fellow passengers' suspicions.
The plane had been due to take off at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT) but was in fact delayed by around three hours.
The Mail on Sunday said some passengers stormed off the Airbus 320 aircraft and refused to fly unless the pair was removed.