Cabin crew overpowered a Kazakh man late on Sunday after he tried to hijack a Paris-Rome plane and have it land in Tripoli by threatening an air hostess, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported.

Valeriy Tolmashev, who appeared very agitated, tried to hijack the Alitalia flight at around 9.30 p.m.

The flight arrived in Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 10.05 p.m. and the apparently unbalanced man was handed over to police, Ansa said, citing Italian border police. All the passengers were safe.

Mr Tolmashev approached the hostess and held a small knife or nail file against her neck, according to different witnesses.

He said he wanted to hijack the plane, with 131 passengers on board, to the Libyan capital.

The 48-year-old was quickly overpowered by four stewards and passengers, who wrestled him to the floor before frogmarching him back to his seat. A doctor on board administered a sedative to the would-be hijacker.

Informed sources said the man was an advisor to Kazakhstan’s delegation at Unesco, the UN educational, scientific and cultural organisation, in Paris.