An intoxicated and possibly mentally ill driver caused a security scare at Sheremetyevo Airport after managing to drive his car onto the airfield.
The driver, identified only as a 53-year-old Moscow resident, used his Nissan Pathfinder SUV to burst through security and drive onto the airfield Tuesday night, Interfax reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed Moscow region official.
"The driver of the car sharply cut in front of a repair works vehicle and drove a few meters into the actual airfield," the official said. "But security officials managed to stop the car."
The driver, who did not have his driving license or any other documents on him, then tried to escape.
"He apparently was heavily drunk and, swearing obscenities, tried to flee to the airfield," the official said.
The man was handed over to police, and his car was searched for explosives. None were found.
The man has been placed in a psychiatric hospital, where doctors have preliminarily declared him mentally ill, Interfax said.
Incidents with drunken people are not uncommon at Moscow airports. On Dec. 29, a drunken 42-year-old father of three children burst through passport control at Domodedovo Airport and struck a police officer who tried to stop him.
The crew of a passenger plane landing at Domodedovo Airport on a flight from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was forced to call the police to meet them on the ground after several drunken passengers got out of hand in February.
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