Second Flight 253 'disturbance'
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A Northwest Airlines flight crew sought emergency assistance Sunday for a disruptive passenger who was taken into custody as the plane landed in Detroit, an airline official said.
Amid heightened global security concerns, the disturbance occurred on the same Northwest Flight 253 that was attacked by a terror suspect on Christmas Day.
On the flight, which arrived in Detroit from Amsterdam at 12:34 pm (1:34am Monday Thailand time), "there was a verbally disruptive passenger, and out of an abundance of caution the flight crew requested law enforcement meet the aircraft," said Susan Elliott, a spokeswoman for Delta.
The flight with 257 passengers and 12 crew landed safely, Elliott said.
US President Barack Obama was notified about the latest security scare on a Detroit-bound airliner and requested a new security briefing from top aides, a spokesman said Sunday.
Obama "was notified shortly after 9:00 am Hawaiian time (2am Thailand time) of the incident regarding an unruly passenger on the flight arriving in Detroit by NSC chief of staff Denis McDonough," White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
Burton issued the statement in Hawaii, where the vacationing Obama is monitoring the situation following Friday's attempted terror strike on a US-bound plane.
That Northwest Flight 253 - travelling the same path from Amsterdam to Detroit as the Sunday flight - was the target of an apparent terrorist attack by Nigerian Omar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, whom US authorities charged with trying to blow up the plane.
CNN reported that one person was taken off Sunday's plane and into federal custody, citing an law enforcement officer saying that no device was found on the detained passenger.
TV images showed a Delta plane on the tarmac in a remote section of Detroit Metro Airport, surrounded by security vehicles, several buses and emergency response vehicles, and police with dogs.
Delta merged with Northwest last year.
US media cited government sources saying the passenger barricaded himself in the bathroom for more than an hour. (AFP)
