By Michael Alexander

A DUNDEE University graduate told last night how he and his family found themselves at the centre of a terror alert when a passenger on board their holiday flight started shouting slogans linked with Muslim extremism, forcing the flight to be aborted and evacuation of their plane.

James Dargie (32), a 1995 geography graduate now working as a marine data manager with the Countryside Council for Wales, told how passengers “screamed with terror” when a man of Muslim origin started shouting “Allah Achbar” or “God is Great” as their plane taxied for take-off at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus yesterday afternoon.

Mr Dargie, who had boarded London-bound BA flight 663 with his wife Mona and young son Tomos just minutes earlier, told how a “wave of panic” spread among passengers as the chanting began.

As airline staff tried to ascertain what was happening, the captain announced that the flight was being aborted before it had even begun and all passengers and crew would have to leave the aircraft.

As security personnel boarded the plane, the disruptive passenger was quickly taken into custody and all other passengers were required to disembark.

All passengers had to reclaim their luggage while further checks of the aircraft were made.

Speaking to The Courier in a rushed call from Larnaca Airport via his mobile phone, Mr Dargie said, “We were just starting to taxi when this Bangladeshi-looking man starts shouting in Urdu or Arabic and then going ‘Allah Achbar! Allah Achbar!’

“I’m not sure if he was with his wife or mother, but he looked like he might have been blind or even suffering a panic attack.

“Whatever, it was very frightening—and with September 11 still fresh in people’s minds, folk were keen to get off that plane.

“We’re now in the airport and don’t know what’ll be happening next, but we’ve had to reclaim our bags and await further instructions.”

Last night a spokesman for British Airways confirmed there had in fact been three disruptive passengers on board the aircraft and the captain had decided to “offload them.”

The spokesman had no further information as to the nature of the disturbance but said the captain would lodge a full report when he returned to London.

Stressing that safety was paramount, the spokesman said, “As they were on the aircraft it’s a standard security procedure to evict the passengers and carry out a full search of the cabin prior to departing for the destination. I do not know at this stage what the disruption was.”

The spokesman said the flight had been due to take off at 4.50 pm local time and, following a search, had been rescheduled to take-off around two hours late.

Flight BA 663 is a daily British Airways service from Larnaca to London. The Boeing 767 aircraft, used for long-short-haul flights, was carrying 199 passengers.

Larnaca Airport is the largest airport in Cyprus and handles over 800 flights per month and over 2.5 million passengers per year.

The airport has been undergoing expansion to the terminal and further plans will make the airport capable of handling 7.5 million passengers per year.