A Malaysia Airlines scheduled flight en route to Kuala Lumpur was forced to return to Sydney as a precautionary measure after a passenger caused a disruption in the cabin.
Malaysia’s flight MH122 had made the scheduled departure from Sydney airport (SYD) earlier today at 13:06 AEST.
The flight, operated by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft, was bound for Kuala Lumpur and was over central New South Wales airspace when the implied incident occurred.
Video footage from the cabin which is circulated on social media shows a male passenger confronting the flight crew member and repeatedly referring to himself as “a slave of Allah.”
As a result of the disruption, the flight crew elected to make a precautionary return to Sydney Airport where Australian Federal Police (AFP) and emergency services were alerted to await its return.
The flight subsequently landed in Sydney at 15:59 AEST. Sydney airport management released subsequent statements via social media saying:
“We are currently supporting emergency agencies in the management of an incident at the airport. The airport is operational with flights arriving and departing. Passengers are encouraged to check directly with their airline regarding the status of their flight.”
Update 19:00 AEST
It appears that this afternoon’s Malaysia Airlines incident resulted in some delays and disruptions to Sydney Airport flight scheduling.
Sydney management has released a recent statement advising: “As a result of this afternoon’s incident, there have been 32 domestic flights cancelled (16 inbound + 16 outbound), with delays of up to 90mins for other domestic flights. Currently no international flight cancellations.”
There are no further details with respect to the Australian Federal Police follow-up of the incident as yet.
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