Woman muttered 'Pakistan' US flight diverted to Boston

Washington, Aug 17: A woman passenger in a jogging suit muttering ''Pakistan'' repeatedly led the airlines authorities in United States to divert a London-to-Washington flight to an emergency landing in Boston Logan International Airport officials in Boston ruled out any indication of terrorism, but passengers said they were unnerved by the woman and by the military response yesterday so soon after the London terror plot was discovered last week.

As soon as the woman passenger, pacing up and down the aisle, in her incoherent mutterings uttered the word ''Pakistan'' two plainclothesmen on board and flight attendants ran up the aisle and confronted the woman, slamming her into the bathroom door, throwing her to the ground and slapping handcuffs on her. And the flight itself was escorted by two fighter jets to Boston.

Later Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said the 59-year-old woman was from Vermont and became so claustrophobic and upset that she needed to be restrained. The FBI in Boston said the woman, a US citizen, was arrested on charges of interfering with flight crew.

The disturbance caused by the woman was enough concern for the pilot to declare an emergency, which activated two fighter jets to escort the plane into Logan, according to official sources.

State police and federal agencies took control of the plane after it landed and passengers were taken to a terminal and their luggage off-loaded for a security re-check.

The woman will remain in federal custody overnight and would be charged in a federal criminal complaint early today, the US attorney and FBI said in a joint statement.

The statement did not elaborate on specific charges expected, except to say there was no evidence the incident was related to terrorism.

Airports have tightened security in both the United Kingdom and the US after the foiled terror plot was unraveled in London last week. But, at Boston's Logan airport, terror alert acquires extra significance because it was here that members of al-Qaida hijacked two planes from on September 11, 2001, and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York.

UNI