A woman passenger on a New Zealand commuter plane stabbed a pilot and threatened to blow up the 19-seat aircraft, New Zealand Press Association reported on Feb. 8.

The woman stabbed one of the two pilots and attempted to take control of the small Jetstream plane as it flew to Christchurch from the small town of Blenheim on New Zealand's South Island, NZPA said, citing local police.

A pilot sustained minor wounds, but none of the seven passengers on board was hurt. The woman was restrained.

Christchurch airport, the country's second biggest international gateway, was closed for more than two hours as armed police, army bomb squad and emergency services surrounded the plane, which was parked in a remote part of the airport.

"I saw a dog go in, the passengers came out in a rush, then the woman came out, was bundled to ground and searched by police and taken away," Wayne Johnstone, a passenger on another plane was reported as saying by local web site Stuff.co.nz.

The 19-seater Jetstream planes are used on short-haul regional flights by national carrier Air New Zealand and have only curtains separating the cockpit from the passenger area.