On Oct. 17, the departure of an All Nippon Airways flight from Nagasaki to Tokyo's Haneda airport was delayed by about 45 minutes because a passenger failed to switch off a mobile phone, ANA officials said.

A malfunction in radio equipment was indicated as the plane, a Boeing 767 with 234 passengers and crew aboard, was taxiing to the runway for takeoff at Nagasaki airport at around 9:10 a.m., the officials said.

The plane returned to a parking gate for checks, but the pilot could not detect the cause of the malfunction.

After a flight attendant told passengers to make sure they had turned off their mobile phones, the equipment began working normally.

The officials said a mobile phone belonging to one of the passengers had been left switched on.