Arrest after Bali plane hijack alert in Indonesia

Passengers on nearby aircraft saw the drama unfold and took photographs of the plane.

A passenger who caused a hijack scare on a flight from Australia to Indonesia has been arrested at Bali airport, officials say.

Virgin Australia said a passenger had been handcuffed by crew on the Boeing 737 after acting aggressively.

The flight from Brisbane was boarded by Indonesian troops on landing after reports that it had been hijacked.

Virgin blamed confusion around the incident on a "miscommunication" and said the passenger had been drunk.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Indonesia said fears of a hijacking were caused after the pilot sent a distress signal to airport authorities.

"This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication," Heru Sudjatmiko, a Virgin Australia official said.

"What happened was there was a drunk person... too much alcohol consumption caused him to act aggressively."

An Indonesian air force spokesman said all passengers were unharmed and were being taken off the aircraft.

Virgin Australia Airlines, formerly Virgin Blue Airlines, is Australia's second-largest airline.
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