A man has been arrested on an Alitalia flight from Paris to Rome after brandishing a knife at cabin crew and demanding the plane divert to Tripoli, Libya.

The suspected, believed to be from Kazakhstani, was handed to police as flight AZ329 landed at Fiumicino airport in Rome earlier.

One female member of the cabin crew was slightly injured during the incident. However, no injuries were reported among the 131 passengers on board.

A statement from the Italian airline said the man had been “clearly agitated”.

The man was overpowered by four crew and passengers, and given a sedative by a doctor who was travelling on the flight.

Italian police have since named the man as Valery Tolmachev, aged 48.