THE HAGUE (AFP) - A man on a long-haul KLM flight from Amsterdam to Beijing attacked and slightly wounded a co-pilot before being subdued by other passengers, the Dutch airliner said Tuesday (Jan 5).

Witnesses, quoted by Dutch media, said the man had stabbed the co-pilot either with a knife or with a piece of broken glass in Sunday's (Jan 3) incident, but that was not confirmed by KLM.

"On Sunday, January 3, on board flight KL897 en route for Beijing, a confused passenger locked himself in the toilets and inflicted slight wounds on himself," the airline said in a statement sent to AFP.

"He then slightly wounded the co-pilot in one of the kitchens in the cabin," KLM added, stressing that at no point was the plane in danger.

The daily flight KL897 took off around 5.35pm local time (1635 GMT) from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam en route for the Chinese capital, and landed safely at 10.31am (0231 GMT) Monday (Jan 4).

After the man "was overwhelmed he was attached to a seat for the rest of the journey," the daily De Telegraaf said, quoting a witness.

The attacker was taken off the flight by about 15 policemen who were waiting for the plane to land on the tarmac in Beijing, another witness told the paper.

KLM said the co-pilot was treated for his injuries in Beijing and was now back in the Netherlands.