A Nigerian man who became ill on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit — the same flight involved in Friday’s terrorism attempt — triggered a security alert at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after the pilots requested emergency assistance upon landing, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Sunday. The department said that the response to Sunday’s incident, which included informing President Obama, was “an abundance of caution.”
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Earlier in the afternoon, Delta Airlines, which acquired Northwest last year, said in a statement that the crew had requested police assistance on the ground because a passenger was “verbally disruptive.” The Transportation Safety Administration said in a statement that it had been alerted to a “disruptive passenger on board” Flight 253. The T.S.A. said that the flight landed safely at Detroit International Airport at approximately 12:35 p.m. Eastern “without incident.”
“The aircraft has been moved to a remote location for additional screening,” the agency had said then. “T.S.A. and law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival, the passenger is now in custody.”
A little before 4 p.m., the large white jetliner sat at the southeast corner of the vast Detroit Metropolitan Airport, surrounded by police and other emergency vehicles with their lights flashing in the fading afternoon light amid falling snowflakes.
About a half hour later, the Homeland Security press secretary, Sara Kuban, released a statement, sorting out what had happened on the flight.
“A passenger on today’s Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit spent an unusually long time in the aircraft lavatory,” she said in the statement. “Due to this unusual behavior, the airline notified T.S.A. and the agency directed the flight to taxi to a remote area upon landing to be met by law enforcement and D.H.S.
“The passenger in question, a Nigerian national, was removed from the flight and interviewed by the F.B.I.; indications at this time are that the individual’s behavior is due to legitimate illness, and no other suspicious behavior or materials have been found. Though this does not appear at this time to be a security incident, in an abundance of caution, the aircraft was fully screened, with negative results, and all baggage is being rescreened before the aircraft taxis to the gate.”
The suspect in Friday’s failed terrorism attempt on the same flight, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is also Nigerian. He has been charged with trying to blow up the plane.
CNN and The Associated Press had previously reported that a Nigerian man had locked himself in the lavatory for such a long time that the crew requested help on the ground.
A Homeland Security official had earlier described the incident as “nonserious.”
At 3:55 p.m., CNN said that law enforcement authorities has offered an "all clear" signal — indicating that the threat had passed — and the plane began to be moved.
Rows of bags and luggage long remained on the tarmac, approached by dogs sniffing for contraband, whether as serious as explosive devices or the usual agricultural products not allowed to be flown in on passenger jets.
Bill Burton, a White House spokesman, said that President Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, had been notified “shortly after 9:00 a.m. Hawaiian time of the incident regarding an unruly passenger on the flight arriving in Detroit by N.S.S. chief of staff Denis McDonough.”
“The President stressed the importanceof maintaining heightened security measures for all air travel and gaveinstructions to set up another secure teleconference briefing as soon as possible,” Mr. Burton added.
“It’s a pretty typical response,” Scott Wintner, the airport spokesman, said of the police vehicles. “With an aircraft situation, speed is of the essence.”
A Delta spokeswoman said that the other 255 passengers have been safely taken off the plane.
Skip to next paragraph
Earlier in the afternoon, Delta Airlines, which acquired Northwest last year, said in a statement that the crew had requested police assistance on the ground because a passenger was “verbally disruptive.” The Transportation Safety Administration said in a statement that it had been alerted to a “disruptive passenger on board” Flight 253. The T.S.A. said that the flight landed safely at Detroit International Airport at approximately 12:35 p.m. Eastern “without incident.”
“The aircraft has been moved to a remote location for additional screening,” the agency had said then. “T.S.A. and law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival, the passenger is now in custody.”
A little before 4 p.m., the large white jetliner sat at the southeast corner of the vast Detroit Metropolitan Airport, surrounded by police and other emergency vehicles with their lights flashing in the fading afternoon light amid falling snowflakes.
About a half hour later, the Homeland Security press secretary, Sara Kuban, released a statement, sorting out what had happened on the flight.
“A passenger on today’s Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit spent an unusually long time in the aircraft lavatory,” she said in the statement. “Due to this unusual behavior, the airline notified T.S.A. and the agency directed the flight to taxi to a remote area upon landing to be met by law enforcement and D.H.S.
“The passenger in question, a Nigerian national, was removed from the flight and interviewed by the F.B.I.; indications at this time are that the individual’s behavior is due to legitimate illness, and no other suspicious behavior or materials have been found. Though this does not appear at this time to be a security incident, in an abundance of caution, the aircraft was fully screened, with negative results, and all baggage is being rescreened before the aircraft taxis to the gate.”
The suspect in Friday’s failed terrorism attempt on the same flight, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is also Nigerian. He has been charged with trying to blow up the plane.
CNN and The Associated Press had previously reported that a Nigerian man had locked himself in the lavatory for such a long time that the crew requested help on the ground.
A Homeland Security official had earlier described the incident as “nonserious.”
At 3:55 p.m., CNN said that law enforcement authorities has offered an "all clear" signal — indicating that the threat had passed — and the plane began to be moved.
Rows of bags and luggage long remained on the tarmac, approached by dogs sniffing for contraband, whether as serious as explosive devices or the usual agricultural products not allowed to be flown in on passenger jets.
Bill Burton, a White House spokesman, said that President Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, had been notified “shortly after 9:00 a.m. Hawaiian time of the incident regarding an unruly passenger on the flight arriving in Detroit by N.S.S. chief of staff Denis McDonough.”
“The President stressed the importanceof maintaining heightened security measures for all air travel and gaveinstructions to set up another secure teleconference briefing as soon as possible,” Mr. Burton added.
“It’s a pretty typical response,” Scott Wintner, the airport spokesman, said of the police vehicles. “With an aircraft situation, speed is of the essence.”
A Delta spokeswoman said that the other 255 passengers have been safely taken off the plane.
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