Passengers Diverted Again After Seeing SWAT Team Rush First Plane

ByABC NEWS ABCNews logo
Saturday, July 26, 2014

After already being delayed once due to an alleged bomb threat, emergency landing and a SWAT team response, passengers en route to Panama City on a Canadian passenger jet were delayed again after a passenger fainted.

Sunwing Flight 772 was forced to land in Jamaica after a passenger fainted and sustained a minor head injury. The flight was on the ground for an hour and the passenger was taken to a local hospital, according to CTV News.

The pit stop was just the most recent delay for the passengers aboard the Sunwing Flight. On Friday morning, the plane's initial flight to Panama City was thwarted after a passenger allegedly threatened the aircraft.

The aircraft was forced turn around in the skies above West Virginia and return to Toronto Pearson International Airport after a traveler became "agitated," according to a Sunwing spokeswoman.

Two American F-16 fighter jets escorted the flight into Canadian airspace as it landed. Video shot by passengers revealed the Canadian SWAT team charged aboard the plane.

"Heads down! hands up!" the military team screamed as they entered the plane to apprehend the suspect.

WATCH: SWAT Team Swarms Canadian Plane

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Toronto police identified the suspect as 25-year-old Ali Shahi, of Canada, and said he faces charges of uttering threats and endangering the safety of an aircraft.

"He basically just tore a strip off her [the flight attendant], explaining how expensive the cigarettes are here in Canada, he hates Canada," passenger Bettina Bathe told CTV News. "Then he said, with great expression using his hands, 'I just want to bomb Canada.'"

Capt. Jennifer Stadnyk of the Northern American Aerospace Defense Command said the two F-16s escorted the plane as a "precaution."

After being delayed in Jamaica for an hour the passengers were back in the air on their way to Panama City, according to CTV.

The Associated Press and CTV News contributed to this story.

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