Gardaí have arrested a man at Cork Airport after he became agitated and distressed when he was told there no flight from Cork to Mecca.

The man, a Libyan student and trainee pilot in his 20s, arrived at the airport sometime after 7pm in a distressed state. He approached staff at a check-in desk in departures saying that he wanted to fly to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Airport staff became concerned and alerted airport police. When the man refused to co-operate with them and calm down, they in turn alerted gardaí who responded immediately.

Armed members of the regional support unit along with detectives and uniformed officers were quickly on the scene and subdued the man who was not armed but very agitated.

The man – who is legally in Ireland on a student visa – was arrested under the provisions of the Mental Health Act and taken to the Bridewell Garda Station for medical assessment.

A spokesman for Cork Airport confirmed there had been incident at the airport which led to gardaí closing off traffic from parking outside the terminal for a short period.

However the incident was over within 30 minutes and no flights to or from the airport were affected, said the Cork Airport spokesman.

Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in Islam and the site of annual Muslim pilgrimage.