Hijack Attempt Foiled By Crew

A man who tried to hijack an Air Seychelles plane on a Monday flight from the Indian city of Bombay to the Seychelles was overpowered by the cabin crew.

The man was arrested when the plane landed at its stopover in Male, the capital of Maldives, an island nation 310 miles off the Indian coast.

Authorities say the motive for the attempted hijacking has not yet been determined.

Crew members and some passengers seized the man as "he tried to enter the cockpit flashing a knife," said Maldives' Foreign Secretary A. Shaheed.

Following the arrest, the plane left Male for the Seychelles after a 40 minute delay on the ground.

Monday's hijack attempt comes at a time when security has been tightened at airports across the world ahead of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

Maldives' civil aviation chief Mohammad Razi says the 41-year old suspect was carrying an Indian passport. Authorities say several other passengers were also questioned by police, but there is no indication on whether any of those individuals have been detained or arrested.

"A passenger with a knife tried to enter the cockpit when the plane was about 95 miles off Male and was scheduled to land here," said Razi. "The crew overpowered him and in the process one of the crew members was injured. However they managed to restrain him and handed him over to local authorities after the plane landed."

There were about 70 passengers, mostly Indian nationals, on board.

Air Seychelles issued a statement saying the airline had stepped up security measures and takes the incident seriously.