Passenger on Ethiopian Airlines flight held after bomb claim

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – An Ethiopian Airlines flight in Burundi was disrupted when a man locked himself in a bathroom on the plane and claimed to have a bomb, a passenger and authorities said Thursday.

Sally Hayden in a Twitter post cited local police as saying they eventually broke down the door and arrested the man in the incident.

Security authorities in Burundi said passengers on the flight from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, were evacuated and no threat was found. Their statement called the unidentified man a “suspected terrorist.”

Air traffic at the airport in Bujumbura continued normally, the statement said.

Ethiopian Airlines in a statement said the flight ET817 “reported air rage by one unruly passenger” who created a false bomb alarm during landing.

The airline apologized for “any inconvenience.”

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