President receives mid-flight drama's "heroic athletes"

President receives mid-flight drama's "heroic athletes"

A statement from the president's office said on Monday that Nikolic met with the club's players Milan Mirkovic and Aleksej Rastvorcev, who "helped prevent the American citizen of Jordanian origin from bring down the plane."

The statement named the American as "Rakan Mdonat."

Mirkovic and Rastvorcev told the president about the details of the mid-flight incident, saying that the reaction of the cabin crew that was, helped by the passengers, prevented "a greater tragedy."

Nikolic congratulated the athletes on their composure and the "courageous feat" and thanked them for acting selflessly in order to prevent a tragedy.

RT reported on Sunday that "a passenger on a Lufthansa flight on its way from Frankfurt to Belgrade threatened to open the plane door and bring down the aircraft," and that he was detained by Serbian police once the plane safely landed in Belgrade, its intended destination.

"A passenger got up and tried to do something at the door, but was stopped by crew members and other passengers. It was a normal door, which of course cannot be opened in-flight... it was not the cockpit door," ," Lufthansa spokesman Andreas Bartels was quoted as saying by AFP.

The Serbian club's coach Milan Djukic on Sunday commented on the incident by saying he thought the man was "mentally disturbed," and adding:

"I exchanged a few words with him at the airport before the takeoff. The stewardess moved him from one seat to another a few times. When he got up he was shouting he would open the door, but I don't know which door he had in mind."