A plane was turned around on the runway and returned to the gate after three men were overheard praying and discussing the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The men — two ministers from Toronto and one of their cousins from the United States — were on a Continental flight Wednesday headed to Newark, N.J.
The pilot taxied back to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, where members of the joint terrorism task force in Buffalo interviewed the men and fellow passengers.
The ministers were identified as the Rev. Komal Singh and the Rev. Yohan Heenatigala. The third man was not identified.
Singh was on his way to an evangelical crusade in Baltimore when he told another passenger that the passenger’s last breath on Earth would be his first breath in heaven if he became a born-again Christian.
“My first reaction was someone was just talking and someone got nervous and that’s exactly what it turned out to be, but it has to be checked out,” said Peter Ahearn, FBI special agent in charge.
The men were released and the flight took off.
