BEIJING: A man who tried to set fire to the cabin of a plane with more than 100 people aboard as it was landing in southern China early on Sunday was overpowered by fellow passengers and crew, reports said.

Two of the 95 passengers suffered injuries and were taken to hospital and the man was detained, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The incident occurred on Shenzhen Airlines flight ZH9648 from the eastern city of Taizhou as it was landing in Guangzhou early on Sunday, it said.

Cabin crew and other passengers subdued the unidentified passenger after he attempted to “damage facilities”, Xinhua said without elaborating.

But a report by the Civil Aviation Resource Net of China, a civil aviation information portal, said the man had “attempted arson” on the plane as it was descending.

Online photos showed burns to a passenger seat as well as a blackened cabin door, suggesting that some kind of fire had been lit. The plane also carried nine crew members, Xinhua said.

China is to enhance safety checks at medium-size, small and new airports following the incident, according to a later Xinhua report, citing the country’s civil aviation watchdog.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2015

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