United Airlines plane force lands due to passenger's faeces

A United Airlines flight was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Alaska after two of the aircraft's toilets were vandalised with excrement, officials said.

The plane, carrying over 200 passengers from Chicago to Hong Kong, landed in Anchorage on Thursday evening due to a "passenger smearing faeces everywhere", Fox News reported on Friday.

The police said the man, a US resident of Vietnamese origin, made no threats. It was not clear what led to the incident taking place.

"We received a report of a passenger who had messed up the bathrooms with his own faeces," Anchorage Airport police spokesman Joe Gamache said.

The passenger, a 22-year-old whose name was not released, was co-operative and faced "no appropriate charges for anything criminal", Gamache added.

The man was handcuffed by the police at Anchorage International Airport and escorted off the plane. He was later taken to a hospital for mental health evaluation. He was not arrested, the police confirmed.

United Airlines said in a statement that flight UA895 was carrying 245 people when it was diverted because of "a disruptive passenger".

Hotel accommodation was provided for those on board, the statement added.

--IANS

soni/vm