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Jammed Door Causes Scare Aboard Flight To Detroit

ROMULUS (WWJ) - An FBI spokesperson said a scare in the air Tuesday morning at Detroit Metro Airport turned out to be nothing.

Agents spent the afternoon interviewing all the passengers on board an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight that landed at Detroit Metro Airport from Dallas/Fort Worth Tuesday morning.

Airport spokesman Scott Wintner told WWJ Newsradio 950 that the plane landed around 10:30 a.m. and was immediately secured and searched after reports that someone vandalized the bathroom. Wintner said the aircraft was cleared by an airport bomb dog before each passenger was questioned about the incident.

Speaking to WWJ's Sandra McNeil, FBI Special Agent Robert Beeckman said the FBI and airport police were called to the scene after the flight crew had become concerned because a plane bathroom door was locked from the inside as the plane was preparing to land.

Beeckham said it aroused concern, but turned out to be nothing.

"There were some pieces of the lavatory on the inside that had come apart and had blocked the doorway. And it turned out to be just a mechanical failure.  It wasn't any sort of an incident that law enforcement needed to be concerned with," Beeckham said.

The passengers had been questioned but have now been released.  Despite the inconvenience, Beekman said the airline followed proper protocol.

The plane was carrying 61 passengers and four crew members.

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