Man Attempts To Open Door of Lufthansa Flight

A Jordanian man with an American passport who threatened to open the cabin door of a Lufthansa flight over Europe was restrained Sunday by members of a handball team, officials and witnesses said.

The exit doors don't open during flights, and Lufthansa Flight 1406 from Frankfurt continued uninterrupted to Belgrade, authorities said.

Milan Djukic, president of the Serbian Vojvodina Handball Club, told the the Belgrade daily Blic the man looked suspicious even before the incident. Djukic said assistant coach Milan Mirkovic and player Aleksej Rastvorcev wrestled the would-be attacker down so quickly that many passengers were unaware of the incident.

Djukic said the man was placed in a business class seat and closely watched for the duration of the flight, which takes about two hours.

The suspect was taken into custody when the plane landed, and a Serbian prosecutor ordered him held pending a hearing, the Associated Press reported.

Airline spokesman Andreas Bartels told the AFP news agency that some media reports that the man attempted to enter the cockpit were not correct.

"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 jeopardized and the flight landed safely in Belgrade."