Passengers overpowered an armed man who hijacked a Mauritanian plane today and took it to Spain's Canary Islands, a Spanish Interior Ministry official said.

Carolina Darias said the man was arrested when police boarded the Air Mauritania 737 shortly after the aircraft landed at Gando military base, outside Las Palmas city's international airport on Gran Canaria island.

Of the 71 passengers - mostly Spaniards and Mauritanians - 21 were treated for slight injuries, a Las Palmas police spokesman said. The most serious was a pregnant woman was treated for severe shock.