Shoelace Strangler Subdued on Montenegro Flight
PODGORICA (Reuters) - An ethnic Albanian man being deported from Germany to Kosovo tried to strangle a flight attendant with his shoelaces on Thursday, the airline said.
The incident occurred aboard a special flight from Duesseldorf to Pristina by Montenegro Airlines, which has been ferrying planeloads of Kosovo deportees home from Germany twice a month for the past several months.
"A serious incident occurred on this flight," the airline's general manager, Zoran Djurisic, told Reuters.
"One of the deportees on the plane asked to go to the toilet, where he took the laces out of his running shoes. He then came up from behind on our stewardess, Irena Radonjic, and tried to strangle her," he said.
"But special Montenegrin police who accompany each flight reacted immediately and prevented any more serious consequences. They subdued the attacker and they landed safely in Pristina."
Montenegrin Interior Minister Andreja Jovicevic told Reuters that the special police on duty on the flight from Dusseldorf to Pristina stopped a man when he tried to kill a flight attendant. He said they handed him over to the authorities in Pristina.
Police in Kosovo identified the attacker as 20-year-old Shaban Isufi. A spokesman said that police secured Pristina airport ahead of the plane's landing and immediately took the attacker to hospital for medical checks.
He was then placed under arrest, the spokesman said. Djurisic said there were about 60 passengers on the flight.
"We don't really know what was in his head. When she was serving refreshments and asked him what he would like to drink he replied: "A little blood from you."
The stewardess had bruises on her neck and was still a bit shocked but otherwise relieved, Djurisic added.
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