Two Irish musicians caused a passenger aircraft to abort its flight when a generator used to power their electric guitar began to leak fumes.
The buskers, travelling under British passports, were detained by Italian airport police after the British Airways flight from Naples to London made an emergency diversion to Rome.
The Boeing 737, carrying 152 people, was grounded on Monday evening when cabin crew smelt petrol, which was traced to the generator under a seat in economy class.
Italian police told The Irish Times that the passengers were Irish but refused to name them.
The two were questioned and fined over the incident and boarded a flight to London yesterday morning. Wary of security fears around the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, BA has ordered an investigation. Authorities in Naples will be asked to explain how the buskers were permitted to carry the generator aboard as hand luggage.
Airport staff had spotted the device, which was carried on as hand luggage, but nobody checked whether it contained fuel.
A BA spokesman said: "There was a smell of petrol on board. That smell of petrol was traced to a small petrol-powered generator which was under a seat. The cabin crew told the captain.
"The captain decided to divert to Rome. All passengers were off-loaded and the two gentlemen were spoken to by the authorities there."
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it had not been informed of the incident as the musicians did not hold Irish passports.