A passenger has been arrested after a flight from Australia to Malaysia was diverted back to Sydney in what police called an “emergency incident”.
The Airbus A330 plane returned to Sydney Airport after more than three hours into its eight-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur due to a “disruptive passenger”, Malaysia Airlines said.
The incident involving flight MH122 caused the cancellation of 32 domestic flights, with delays of up to 90 minutes for other domestic journeys, Sydney Airport wrote on X (formerly Twitter). No international flights were axed.
A passenger was reported to have been holding a rucksack and threatened to “blow the plane up”, according to Australian broadcaster Nine News.
Footage on social media showed a man saying “I am a slave of Allah,” and asking other passengers if they were also slaves of Allah.
“In the interest of safety, the commander of the flight made a decision to return to Sydney,” Malaysia’s national carrier said in a statement.
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A 45-year-old man, who has not been identified, was arrested, and the rest of the 199 passengers and 12 crew were let off the jet about three hours after it landed.
“Malaysia Airlines wishes to thank the authorities for their immediate response and to passengers for remaining calm and cooperative during the ordeal,” the airline said.
