Hijacker 'wanted to Crash Jet'

A man armed with two wooden stakes who injured two cabin staff on a domestic flight in Australia apparently wanted to crash the plane, the Australian transport minister said yesterday.

The 40-year-old man had managed to smuggle the 15cm stakes through airport security and on to the 2.50pm Qantas flight from Melbourne to the northern Tasmanian city of Launceston.

The minister, John Anderson, said the man had begun to act threateningly within 10 minutes of takeoff.

"He apparently headed for the cabin, and seemed to be intent upon trying to force a nasty outcome. If you call that an attempt to crash an aircraft, you might call it a hijacking," he said.

Witnesses said the man had run down the aisle, wielding the stakes over his head, before being forced back by a 38-year-old flight attendant whom he stabbed in the neck.

"As [the attendant] was being attacked, he put his head down into the man's chest and pushed him back down the plane," a passenger, Keith Charlton, told Sky News. "The fellow really was a hero. If it wasn't for him we could have been in a lot of trouble."

The man remained silent during the attack, stabbing another attendant and injuring two passengers before he was restrained with plastic ties. He was held between two seats while the plane returned to Melbourne.

The attendants were treated in hospital for facial cut and the two injured passengers were given first aid at the scene.

The Australian authorities said the hijack attempt did not appear to be connected to organised terrorism, and no motive for the attack had yet been established.