(Fort Smith, AK-AP, September 11, 2002) — A Northwest Airlines jet was diverted to Fort Smith's airport Wednesday after three passengers locked themselves in a bathroom, officials said. The other passengers departed from the plane safely.
Flight 979, an Airbus A320 traveling from Memphis, Tenn., to Las Vegas, landed at Fort Smith late Wednesday morning, Northwest spokeswoman Mary Beth Schubert said.
Police and firefighters surrounded the aircraft. No one was reported hurt.
Jim Harris, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Huckabee, said the three men were appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.
The Bush administration had raised the nation's terror alert warning to its second highest level Tuesday - code orange - signaling a "high risk" of attack with the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at hand.
The state Department of Emergency Management said some sort of negotiations were held between officials and the three passengers in one of the plane's bathrooms.
"Passengers were taken off and they are negotiating through the bathroom," said Jennifer Gordon, a spokeswoman for the department.
The FBI was interrogating the three men, the Transportation Security Agency said. It wasn't clear who reported suspicions to the airline.
The TSA said the three men had been acting strangely on the plane, but gave no specifics beyond saying the three locked themselves in a bathroom.
No other air traffic in the area was affected, said Dave Steigman, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Agency.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)--- Last Updated: Sep 11, 2002