Air China flight diverted by pen threat

An Air China flight was diverted yesterday after a male passenger brandishing a fountain pen held a crew member hostage, aviation authorities said.

The flight left Changsha, capital of the central province of Hunan, at 8:40am en route to Beijing. It landed in Zhengzhou, the capital of neighbouring Henan province, just over an hour later after the man threatened the crew member.

"The incident was successfully dealt with by 1:17pm, and passengers and crew members are safe," according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which said a man used a pen as a threatening device.

Authorities have not yet released further information about the man's motives or what happened to him.