The man was reportedly tackled by several other passengers.
A Malaysian Airlines flight returned to Melbourne Airport almost immediately after departing on Wednesday after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit on board the aircraft.
According to the BBC, Malaysian Airlines said that flight MH128, which was bound for Kuala Lumpur, was forced to turn back due to a “disruptive passenger” and the captain turned the plane around after being alerted to a “passenger attempting to enter the cockpit”.
The plane subsequently returned to the ground safely and requested security assistance; information from Flightradar24 showed that the plane was airborne for 14 minutes.
Flight #MH128 took off at 23:27. Reached a maximum altitude of 6400 ft at 23:31. Landed at 23:41, after being airborne for 14 minutes. pic.twitter.com/NJ6w7OPHIJ
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 31, 2017
A number of other flights were diverted as a result.
Because of the security incident on flight #MH128 flights bound for Melbourne Airport are now diverting to other airports. pic.twitter.com/dE3Xxuogyx
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 31, 2017
According to Nine News, meanwhile, reports suggest the man was tackled by several other passengers and federal police attended the scene shortly afterwards.