SAA passengers and an off- duty pilot tackled a 21-year-old man armed with syringe and needle in an attempted hijacking of a South African Airways flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Saturday.

Local Sunday Times reported in a frontpage story that a passenger on a domestic SAA flight held an air hostess's throat in a mid-air drama.

The Zimbabwean student who attempted to hijack the flight wanted the plane redirected from Johannesburg to Maputo.

According to senior police sources the man's name is Tanish. They also speculated that he could be mentally ill and said at this stage it appears as if he has no links with any terror groups.

The hijack drama of flight SA 322 started about 35 minutes after the plane took off at 09:40 (0740 GMT) from Cape Town International Airport.

The man allegedly demanded access to the cockpit and, when denied, he threatened an air hostess with a syringe.

Three male passengers then jumped up and tackled the man. One of the men who struggled with the hijacker was an off-duty pilot and he was stabbed in the hand.

A senior police source said that that the air hostess was also stabbed but this was denied by SAA.

SAA said that the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) is responsible for the security screening of passengers.

Source: Xinhua