Wellington, New Zealand: A knife-wielding woman stabbed the two pilots of a small commuter plane in New Zealand and threatened to blow it up in an apparent hijack attempt on Friday, the police said.
The Jetstream aircraft operated by Eagle Air, an affiliate of national carrier Air New Zealand, carrying seven passengers from the regional city of Blenheim to Christchurch on South Island, landed safely and a 33-year-old woman was arrested, police spokesman Inspector Kieren Kortegast. The passengers included four New Zealanders, an Australian and an Indian national.
Christchurch police commander Dave Cliff said one of the two pilots on board the plane suffered a cut hand and the other an injured foot.
He said the woman, who was living in Blenheim but was originally from Somalia, entered the cockpit and attacked the pilots before being restrained. She had said there was a bomb on board, Cliff said.
An Army bomb disposal team conducted an initial search of the plane and found no explosives.
One passenger suffered a minor hand injury when the plane was evacuated on landing, shortly after 0800 hours. (1900 GMT).
Emergency vehicles surrounded the aircraft on the tarmac and the airport was closed to incoming and outgoing flights. The airport was reopened after about three hours.
Air New Zealand general manager of short haul airlines, Bruce Parton, said the airline was reviewing its security procedures. "The incident, although a one-off, has naturally given us cause to conduct a thorough review of our safety and security systems and processes on regional domestic flights,'' Parton said.
Passengers boarding short haul flights at New Zealand airports do not routinely pass through security screening.
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