Passengers overpower hijacker

Passengers overpowered a hijacker who had commandeered a Mauritanian plane when he was knocked off his feet during a hard landing, a source close to the Mauritanian presidency said.

The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 was on a domestic flight with 71 passengers and eight crew members when the hijacker, armed with pistols, demanded to be flown to France, officials said. The pilot landed in Spain's Canary Islands instead, where police arrested the suspect.

The pilot "deliberately braked very hard" and the man fell, the Mauritanian source said. A spokeswoman for the Spanish emergency services said 20 people suffered minor cuts and bruises.