LONDON — Two men have been arrested on suspicion of endangering an aircraft after a plane carrying more than 300 people from Pakistan to Britain was diverted from its original course Friday, officials said. The incident further rattled the U.K. just days after a British soldier was brutally killed on a London street in a suspected terror attack. A British security official said the situation involving the Pakistan International Airlines flight did not appear to be related to terrorism, but that police were still investigating. A fighter jet was scrambled to divert Flight P709 — which was supposed to travel from Lahore to Manchester — to Britain's Stansted Airport, where it was kept on an isolated runway. Essex Police said two suspect, ages 30 and 41, were taken to a police station for questioning. Passenger Nauman Rizvi told Pakistan's GEO TV that two men who had tried to move toward the cockpit during the flight were handcuffed and arrested once the plane landed. Rizvi said that after the men were taken away, the flight crew told passengers there had been a terrorist threat and that the pilot had raised an alarm. PIA spokesman Mashood Tajwar said the airline had been unable to contact the pilot of the flight despite repeated attempts. He said 297 passengers and 11 crew members were on the plane. Tajwar added that the control tower at Manchester airport received a call about a threat aboard the plane and the tower advised the pilot to divert to Stansted. — AP
