By Ted Sherman and Steve Strunsky/The Star-Ledger
NEWARK — A Newark-bound flight from Hong Kong has landed without incident, following an on-board outburst by a passenger who claimed everyone on board had been poisoned.
After landing this afternoon, United flight 116 taxied to a remote area of Newark Liberty International Airport, where police and the FBI boarded, before the aircraft was towed to the international arrivals area at Terminal C to allow passengers were to disembark.
The FBI said the individual who caused the outburst was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital for evaluation. The Center for Disease Control also cleared the plane.
Authorities did not name the man who was taken off the plane, but one passenger, Peter Jones, 58, of Washington, D.C., said he kept repeating his name as "Daniel Perry Morgan," along with his social security number and his birthday. He said Morgan claimed to have once worked at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, and insisted he had information concerning the leak of the NSA's surveillance program, and was afraid for his life.
According to the FBI, the incident occurred several hours before the flight was due to land in Newark, when an unidentified man stood up and screamed “we’re all being poisoned. You’ve all been poisoned.”
Authorities do not believe anyone was poisoned and never diverted the plane.
The man was restrained by other passengers, several law enforcement forces said.
One of the passengers on the plane, Jacques Roizen of New York, said the outburst occurred about nine hours into the flight. He told reporters he was in his seat with his headphones on when he heard someone screaming. Roizen said the man sounded paranoid and disturbed, and was screaming something about national defense. And about being poisoned .
“He was afraid of the FBI and afraid of being killed and wanted to the plane diverted to Canada," he said.
Roizen said when the man started to reach into his jacket, he and a handful of other passengers tackled him and wrestled to the ground until the flight crew showed up with plastic handcuffs. He was placed in the midsection of the plane until they landed.
The nearly 15-hour flight from Hong Kong landed ahead of schedule at about 2 p.m.
Peter Jones of Washington, D.C., talks to the media after his plane from Hong Kong arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport. A male passenger aboard the United Airlines flight from Hong Kong allegedly told the flight crew that he has "poisoned everyone" aboard the plane.
Shao Feng of Fanwood was waiting for his wife, Lyng Yin who was in Hong Kong on business, and said he called him from the plane. She was not fully aware of what was going on, and sounded very calm.
“What kind of crazy guy would do such a thing?” he asked.
Henry Kee Che of Verona was at the terminal with his wife, waiting for their daughter and grandchildren. He said she was seated on the other end of the plane. “All she told me was there was a crazy guy and somebody jumped on the guy,” he said. “She said the FBI and the police were on the plane.”
FBI officials said they were conducting interviews of passengers with detectives from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Star-Ledger staff writer William Perlman contributed to this report.