Suspect Arrested After Fire on Jetliner

An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of starting a fire in the washroom of a Delta Air lines plane Sunday on a flight from San Diego to Atlanta, authorities said.

Jeffrey Arthur Basta of North Carolina was arrested by the FBI upon landing at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, a spokesman for the FBI’s Atlanta office said.

According to the spokesman, Weldon L. Kennedy, Basta allegedly started a fire by burning paper towels and toilet tissue in the lavatory of Delta’s Flight 504, on its final leg between Phoenix and Atlanta. A fire alarm alerted passengers, Kennedy said, and Basta was held until the plane landed.

Delta spokesman Bill Berry said: “Apparently he had tried to burn some paper towels. There was no fire when our people got inside.”

The plane was not damaged, and no one was hurt.

Upon his arrest, a small amount of narcotics was taken from Basta, Kennedy said.

Basta was formally charged with federal interference with a flight crew and the destruction of an aircraft, and is scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate in Atlanta later this month, Kennedy said.

No one was injured and the plane was not damaged, a Delta spokesman said.