Man takes joyride on Melbourne airport tarmac

MELBOURNE - A red alert was sounded at the international airport in Melbourne Saturday after a man took a joyride on the tarmac in a motorised cart stolen from a hangar.

The man, later identified as an Italian national, was seen zooming around in the cart he stole from the Virgin Airlines hangar shortly after scaling the airport’s security fences, the Herald Sun reported citing police officials.

He was apprehended by Virgin staff, police officers and airport security.

A few flights were delayed and passengers were taken off a plane nearby and screened again in case the incident was part of a bigger security breach, police said.

The intruder had probably flown in from Sydney Friday but apparently did not leave the area near the airport. He re-entered the airport just at around 6.00 a.m. Saturday and cut himself badly on the security wire on the top of the airport’s perimeter fences, police said.