Italian held after Alps hijack attempt

An apparently disturbed Italian man tried to hijack an aircraft over the French Alps yesterday armed with a small box, which he claimed was the remote control of a bomb.

The Alitalia aircraft, on a flight from Bologna to Paris with 67 passengers and seven crew, was diverted to Lyon, where the man gave himself up without a struggle.

The French authorities initially described Stefano Savorani, 28, as a "terrorist" but his status was downgraded last night to that of an "unbalanced individual".

Police in France said that he had attempted to enter the pilot's cabin, brandishing a small box and making incoherent references to al-Qa'ida and Osama bin Laden. One Italian air traffic control official said that Mr Savorani had announced that he was hijacking the aircraft as an anti-Bin Laden gesture.

The police also said that the man had claimed to belong to an al-Qa'ida network" and demanded the right to make a "statement to the press".

Mr Savorani is a former Italian police officer who also commandeered a plane in 1999, French police said. He hijacked a jet in 1999 and forced it to land at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris.

Police in Bologna said Mr Savorani had also attempted to hijack a train in 1998. He was kicked out of the Italian police because of mental illness and had spent time in an psychiatric institution.

The aircraft landed safely at the Antoine de Saint Exupéry airport in Lyons, where he made no attempt to prevent passengers and crew leaving the plane. He was arrested by an elite air protection unit when he came down the steps of the aircraft with the crew.