Tehran - Iranian air marshals have arrested a "mentally unstable" man who threatened to hijack a Syria-bound Iran Air passenger plane, an airline spokesperson told Fars and Mehr news agencies on Saturday.
Iran Air spokesperson Shahrokh Nushabadi said the incident took place on Friday aboard Iran Air flight 517 which was bound for the Syrian capital Damascus.
"As the plane was approaching Damascus, one of the passengers falsely claimed he had a bomb and that the plane should land in another country," Nushabadi told Mehr news agency. "The air marshals immediately arrested the offender who was unarmed," he told Fars, describing the hijacker as "mentally unstable."
"The air marshals talked to him, calmed him down and the plane safely landed in Damascus airport," he said.
Nushabadi said that the was handed over to unspecified authorities at Damascus airport. Earlier Fars carried an unsourced report saying the incident happened Saturday morning.
"I have planted a bomb on the plane and want to take control of it," the agency quoted the hijacker as saying. The would-be hijacker "was armed with a weapon, which wasn't a firearm", Fars said in its previous report, adding that a preliminary investigation showed there was no bomb on the aircraft.
Iran's flagship carrier Iran Air has frequent weekly flights to the Syrian capital, which many Iranians visit on pilgrimage.
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