US fighter jets escort Toronto passenger flight after alleged threat

Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets escorted a Sunwing Airlines plane bound for Panama City back to Toronto's Pearson Airport about 45 minutes after departure Friday, after a passenger reportedly threatened the aircraft.

A spokeswoman for the Toronto-based airline, Janine Chapman, said Flight 772 departed at 7 a.m. (1100 GMT) and turned around over West Virginia when an "agitated passenger directly threatened the aircraft." Chapman did not elaborate on the threat.

Video taken by other passengers and broadcast by CTV showed officers in body armor with weapons drawn boarding the plane.

U.S. sources told Al Jazeera that the agitated passenger used the word "bomb" on the plane.

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Capt. Jennifer Stadnyk said two fighter jets from Ohio flew with the plane out of U.S. airspace to Toronto as a "precaution." NORAD is a joint U.S.-Canadian military organization that overseas airspace control and safety across the continent.

Constable Lilly Fitzpatrick of Southern Ontario's Peel Regional Police said that a 25-year-old Canadian man was taken into custody for questioning, and that a tactical unit had "conducted a thorough search of the plane on the tarmac."

Charges against the individual were pending, she said.

Sunwing said the other passengers were expected to depart for Panama later in the afternoon.

Al Jazeera and wire services