Man 'Tries To Open Plane Door Mid-Flight'

The suspect was restrained by passengers and flight crew and then arrested once the plane reached Belgrade.

Cabin crew and passengers overpowered a man who allegedly threatened to open one of the plane's doors during the flight.

The man was restrained as he fumbled with the controls of an emergency exit door as the Lufthansa plane flew from Frankfurt to Belgrade, the German airline said.

Serbian authorities arrested the man, a Jordanian with an American passport, when the plane reached Belgrade.

The crew and passengers who subdued him - which included members of a Serbian handball team - kept the man restrained for the rest of the flight.

Passengers told Serbia's public broadcaster RTS that the suspect got up mid-flight, banged on the cockpit door and demanded he be allowed in.

He threatened to bring down the plane and cried out that he wished to join Allah along with all the passengers, according to RTS.

The incident happened as the plane was flying over Austria, reports said.

"A passenger got up and tried to do something at the door, but was stopped by crew members and other passengers," said Lufthansa spokesman Andreas Bartels.

"The passenger was then restrained for the remainder of the flight in his seat and handed over to the authorities in Belgrade."

Mr Bartles stressed that the door the man was trying to open was not to the cockpit.

"It was a normal door, which of course cannot be opened in-flight... it was not the cockpit door," he said.

"The safety of the flight was not jeopardised and the flight landed safely in Belgrade."

The suspect is being held in pre-trial detention on the grounds of endangering public safety.