A United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Memphis after a man claimed that he had a bomb on board.
United Flight 1435 from Houston to New York City's LaGuardia Airport was forced to land on Saturday after an unruly passenger, Victor Manguel, ran towards the cockpit while saying he had a bomb. Passengers say Manguel first started fighting with fellow passengers on board, KPRC reports.
One passenger, Cookie Smith told KPRC that the man was arguing with someone at the back of the plane.
"He seemed a little off and he had a black eye. Like the whole white part of his eye was blood red," said Smith. After the fight, Smith says Manguel charged toward the cockpit while a flight attendant yelled at him to stop. The flight attendant had to ask passengers for assistance. Smith claims one of the passengers that helped hold Manguel back was her husband.
Smith says that Manguel claimed he had a gun while other passengers said he claimed to have a bomb. He was subdued with the help of four passengers in first class. The pilot was forced to land the plane in Memphis and Manguel was taken away by police. All of the other passengers were forced to get off the plane and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought on to search for explosives.
"The FBI showed up and put a bomb-sniffing dog on the plane and we were told the plane had to be searched by this bomb-sniffing dog because the passenger had reported that there were some explosives on-board," passenger Brent McCowan told WREG.
Authorities didn't find any explosives. The incident caused a big inconvenience for the 140 passengers on board, but McCowan said everyone was calm for the most part and the crew did a good job.
"There was no panic. There were no screams. There were no cries," McCowan said. "The flight attendant did a great job with the way he handled the situation."
The plane was eventually able to continue on to New York. Manguel was charged by federal authorities with interfering with a flight crew.
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