Emergency landing after passenger threat

A domestic airliner flying from the tourist state of Goa made an emergency landing in New Delhi on Sunday after a passenger became unruly and said he was carrying a knife, a top aviation official told Reuters.

A domestic airliner flying from the tourist state of Goa made an emergency landing in New Delhi on Sunday after a passenger became unruly and said he was carrying a knife, a top aviation official told Reuters.

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The flight has been taken by the pilot to an isolated bay at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, where national security guard commandos have surrounded it.

"We have been told from the aircraft that a passenger has become unruly and he has said he is carrying a knife," a top official in the bureau of civil aviation security, who is not authorised to speak to reporters, told Reuters.

"The cockpit is locked and the pilot has full control of the aircraft." All passengers are safe, he said.

ML Kumawat, a top official in India's internal security department, told Reuters the incident could be a mock drill. "But we are still awaiting reports," he said.

(Reporting by Bappa Majumdar; Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee)