Travel at one of Canada’s busiest airports was briefly halted Tuesday after federal police received a report that a small plane had been hijacked, officials said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the western Canadian province of British Columbia said that at 1:10 p.m. local time they received a report that a Cessna 172 “had been hijacked from the Vancouver Island area and was entering into airspace near Vancouver International Airport.”
“The suspect was the sole occupant of the aircraft,” the statement added.
In a recording of air traffic control posted to liveatc.net, an official can be heard stating: “We have an incident right above our airspace here — a hijacked 172,” the Vancouver Sun reported.
The plane landed in Vancouver at 1:45 p.m. and the “suspect was arrested without incident,” the RCMP said, declining to provide further details.
Images published by public broadcaster CBC and video shared online show the small white Cessna surrounded by security vehicles on a runway after landing in Vancouver.
The CBC reported the Cessna was operated by a flying club in Victoria, the provincial capital located on Vancouver Island.
Witness Paul Heeney told the CBC that he was driving when he noticed a small plane flying low and banking to the right.
“A few minutes later, we saw a second pass … the plane was making a big clockwise circle,” he said.
Vancouver International Airport said in a statement that nine inbound flights were diverted during the incident with a temporary halt to operations ordered across the airport in the West Coast city. Flights were grounded for 39 minutes.
Airport head of communications Stephen Smart told the CBC that it “could have lasted a lot longer.”
“This is not something that we would experience on a regular basis,” Smart said
