A man has been detained after he tried to set fire to his shoes on a US flight, reports say. The man was subdued on United flight 663 from Washington Reagan airport to Denver.
While the presence of explosives has not been confirmed, reports are referring to the incident as a "shoe bomb attempt".
An ABC report identified the suspect as a Qatari diplomat stationed at the country's Washington embassy.
The plane, with more than 160 passengers and crew on board, landed safely at Denver International Airport, where TV footage showed it surrounded by security vehicles. The US Transportation Security Administration said the suspect was being interviewed by law enforcement officials.
"TSA is monitoring an incident on board United Airlines flight 663 from [Washington to Denver] after receiving initial reports that a Federal Air Marshal responded to a passenger possibly causing a disturbance on board this aircraft," the agency said in a statement.
The incident comes just months after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on a passenger jet arriving in the US. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was overpowered by passengers and crew shortly before the Northwest Airlines plane landed in Detroit from Amsterdam on 24 December. He has been charged with attempting to destroy a plane.
In 2001, Richard Reid, a British citizen, attempted to blow up a transatlantic passenger jet carrying 197 people with explosives hidden in his shoes. |