Possible RoP Hijack Attempt in New Zealand
Woman passenger attacks pilots on New Zealand domestic flight.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A knife-wielding woman stormed the cockpit of a New Zealand domestic flight Friday, stabbed both pilots and threatened to blow up the plane before she was subdued, police said.
The Air National flight landed safetly at Christchurch in southern New Zealand and the 33-year-old woman was arrested, police said. None of the seven passengers were injured, but the pilot suffered a severely cut hand in the attack and the co-pilot was injured on the foot.
Police did not say who restrained the woman aboard the flight.
The flight took off from the regional city of Blenheim, 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of the capital of Wellington, bound for the tourist city of Christchurch, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of the capital.
Christchurch police commander Dave Cliff said the woman— a Blenheim resident but originally from Somalia — entered the cockpit and attacked the pilots before being restrained. She had said there was a bomb on board, Cliff said.