A flight from Nashville was diverted to Atlanta Friday. The FBI said the man accused of a passenger disturbance was speaking his native tongue and did not make threats.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew of Southwest Flight 2094 out of Nashville International Airport reported a passenger disturbance, which resulted in the diversion to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. It was originally supposed to fly to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
A video purportedly taken on the plane after it landed at around 9 p.m. local time was then posted to TikTok. It shows people chanting “heads down, hands up,” passengers complying, armed Atlanta Police Department officers rushing on board and a man being taken into custody.
While the TikTok video claimed a bomb threat was made, after interviewing the man removed on landing Atlanta police and the FBI’s Atlanta office determined that there was no threat. The FBI said that the man was simply speaking in his native language, according to WPTV-TV. Due to this, no charges will be filed and he will not be publicly identified.
The FBI did not say which language the man was speaking.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement that the flight landed safely after “diverting to respond to a possible security matter. We appreciate the professionalism of our flight crew and sincerely apologize to our customers for the significant delay. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees,” according to WPEC-TV.
Flight 2094 ultimately left Atlanta for Fort Lauderdale at 2 a.m. and landed in Fort Lauderdale without further incident at 3:20 a.m., according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
