Here’s what happened
Passenger Andrew Leoncelli spoke of the terrifying moment he was “eyeballing” another passenger who said, “I’m going to blow the f***ing plane up.”
Flight MH128 was forced to make an emergency landing at Melbourne airport Wednesday as a 25-year-old Sri Lankan man demanded to see the pilot and tried to gain access into the cockpit.
Malaysia Airlines flight #MH128returned to Melbourne, because of a passenger security incident after take offhttps://t.co/XzpiTh75hR pic.twitter.com/MtIbadSt3K
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 31, 2017
Leoncelli said to ABC News and said: “He started saying, ‘I need to see the pilot. I need to see the pilot’. The staff were saying, ‘Sit down. Go back to your seat. Go back to your seat.”
So that’s when I jumped up. I said, ‘Mate, get back to your f***ing seat.’
“I was literally eyeballing him and he was like, ‘I’m going to blow the f***ing plane up, I’m going to blow the plane up.”
The man was holding something with antennas and then the man was chased to the back of the plane by crew members and passengers.
This dramatic footage shows the moment Australian terror cops remove the man
#MH128 Well done guys ! pic.twitter.com/dROuI7XvjN
— A Leaf (@alifshahh) June 1, 2017
Leoncelli further added: “He was agitated, is the best description.
“He was a man on a mission and he was pacing from one foot to the other, like a cat on a hot tin roof.”
Armed Police are on board flight #MH128 at Melbourne Airport ⚠ pic.twitter.com/yaDbEVi3wS
— Flight Alerts ⚠ (@FlightAlerts777) May 31, 2017
“What we’ve learnt is that two or three brave young Aussies have taken him on and got him to the ground, pulled the thing out of his hand.”
“They basically jammed his head into the carpet and put the restraints things on him and then sat on him.
“Staff grabbed the object, which we’re not sure what it was, he was claiming to blow the plane up with, and walked it back to the front of the plane.
#MH128 guy drunk. In plastic cuffs. Looks like the SWAT team was despatched to the flight @MAS pic.twitter.com/FL5TqTEGR3
— saroki (@saroki19) May 31, 2017
“I don’t know whether that was a speaker system or not but there’s no chance he got this on the plane without taking it through security, because this was the size of a giant bowling ball.”
