Passenger ‘opened fire and threatened to blow up plane with bomb’ in hijack bid

A GUN-wielding "madman" threatened to bomb a jet liner as he stormed the cockpit in a terrifying hijack attempt.

He forced pilots to land the Biman Bangladesh flight at gunpoint in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong - before taking a crew member hostage and demanding to speak to the Prime Minister.

Commandos evacuated all 142 passengers from the Boeing 737 - before storming the plane and shooting the hijacker dead.

A flight attendant is feared to have been shot in the melee on board the flight, which took place at 17:15 local time.

Bangladeshi MP Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal was a passenger on the jet, which had been heading from Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and claimed the hijacker fired his gun and demanded to speak to the Prime Minister.

He said: "The pilot told that this man, a Bangladeshi, fired a shot. However, everyone is safe.

"When the pilot pursued him, the hijacker said that he wanted to talk to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"Now the law enforcement agencies are trying to take him into custody."

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal added: "So far we know, an armed man pulled a gun at the pilot’s head.

"But all the passengers have disembarked. The pilot has also got off."