Washington, Aug 11 : An plane has crashed after it was stolen by a ground employee from an airport in Washington state, authorities said.

North American Aerospace Defence Command scrambled fighter jets on Friday night to accompany the Horizon Airlines plane, which was steered away from Seattle and Tacoma by air traffic control, on its hour-long flight, ABC News reported.

The crash took place on Ketron Island, southwest of Tacoma. The small island has only about 20 year-round residents.

The employee who stole the plane from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was 29 years old, from Pierce County and called "suicidal" by the sheriff's department.

The department clarified that this was not a terrorist incident. "Most terrorists don't do loops over the water," Sheriff Paul Pastor said. "This might have been a joyride gone terribly wrong."

"Stolen horizon airplane crashed into Ketron island. Preliminary info is that a mechanic from unknown airlines stole plane. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island," Pastor tweeted.

The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 - Q400, has the capability to hold about 75 passengers and is used for short travel. The FBI said it was in contact with officials, but it was too early for them to comment on specifics.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Hyderabad, Apr 6 (PTI): Mohammed Siraj bowled with fire in his belly to return excellent figures of 4/17 as Gujarat Titans restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 152 for eight in their Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

Siraj dismissed struggling openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma cheaply before coming back to add two more wickets to his tally on a slow surface.

Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/24) and seamer Prasidh Krishna (2/25) too performed admirably but a wayward Ishant Sharma leaked 53 runs in his four overs to allow SRH cross 150 after they were 135 for eight at the start of the final over.

Head (8) had a fortuitous start as his edge off Siraj went past the stumps for a boundary. However, Siraj had the last laugh as the pacer got rid of the danger man from Australia when the opener flicked one for Sai Sudharsan to complete a smart diving catch at mid-wicket.

The crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium found their voice after a few boundaries.

Siraj, however, had other ideas as the pumped-up seamer sent back Abhishek after the batter took the aerial route but failed to get the timing right and was caught at mid-on.

This meant the SRH openers' struggles continued in this edition of the IPL as the side reached 45 for two at the end of the power play.

Even as the visitors dominated proceedings at that stage, they faced some anxious moments when Glenn Phillips got injured. After being attended to by the physio, Phillips hobbled off the field.

Ishan Kishan (17) perished when he miscued a pull off a Prasidh Krishna short ball to deep square leg where Ishant completed the catch.

The duo of Nitish Kumar Reddy (31 off 34 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (27 off 19 balls) tried to revive SRH innings with a fifty-run stand for the fourth wicket, a phase where GT got a few fours and a six by the South African big-hitter against Rashid Khan.

But just when SRH looked like laying the foundation for a respectable score, left-arm spinner Sai Kishore picked up the prized wicket of Klaasen whose leg stump was disturbed as he rocked back to employ the pull shot.

Reddy too perished while trying to smash Sai Kishore out of the park, leaving SRH at 105 for five in the beginning of the 16th over.