Another warning diverts plane
By Yang Jian |
September 1, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A Shenzhen Airlines flight was diverted to an airport in central China after receiving a threatening call on Thursday evening in the second such incident involving Chinese carriers in just two days.
Flight ZH9706 from Xiangyang in Hubei Province to the southern city of Shenzhen made an emergency landing at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 11:24pm out of concern for passenger safety, the airline said in a statement yesterday. The flight was later canceled.
"The airline received an anonymous phone call shortly after the aircraft took off at 10:30pm, so it landed halfway through its flight," the airport authority said.
Police later confirmed the call was made from Xiangyang.
Officers conducted a thorough inspection after the plane landed but found no explosives or dangerous items on the aircraft or in passengers' belongings.
All 71 passengers and nine crew members onboard the Airbus 320 aircraft were accommodated in Wuhan and boarded a flight the next day which landed in Shenzhen at 12:10pm yesterday, the airport said. It said no other flights were affected.
Police are investigating the incident, a spokeswoman for the airline said yesterday, declining to give further details.
The Wuhan airport issued a high alert at around 11pm and had six fire trucks and another 30 rescue vehicles standing by before the plane landed, the airport authority said.
More than 200 armed police and anti-hijack police officers launched a blanket search across the aircraft, but found nothing abnormal.
Police are still tracking the person who made the fake threatening call.
On Wednesday, an Air China flight from Beijing to New York was forced to return to Beijing after a threatening message was received.
However, a thorough inspection revealed nothing amiss and the flight left for New York hours later.
People who make hoax calls which disrupt flights face up to three years in prison under China's Civil Aviation Law.
Flight ZH9706 from Xiangyang in Hubei Province to the southern city of Shenzhen made an emergency landing at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 11:24pm out of concern for passenger safety, the airline said in a statement yesterday. The flight was later canceled.
"The airline received an anonymous phone call shortly after the aircraft took off at 10:30pm, so it landed halfway through its flight," the airport authority said.
Police later confirmed the call was made from Xiangyang.
Officers conducted a thorough inspection after the plane landed but found no explosives or dangerous items on the aircraft or in passengers' belongings.
All 71 passengers and nine crew members onboard the Airbus 320 aircraft were accommodated in Wuhan and boarded a flight the next day which landed in Shenzhen at 12:10pm yesterday, the airport said. It said no other flights were affected.
Police are investigating the incident, a spokeswoman for the airline said yesterday, declining to give further details.
The Wuhan airport issued a high alert at around 11pm and had six fire trucks and another 30 rescue vehicles standing by before the plane landed, the airport authority said.
More than 200 armed police and anti-hijack police officers launched a blanket search across the aircraft, but found nothing abnormal.
Police are still tracking the person who made the fake threatening call.
On Wednesday, an Air China flight from Beijing to New York was forced to return to Beijing after a threatening message was received.
However, a thorough inspection revealed nothing amiss and the flight left for New York hours later.
People who make hoax calls which disrupt flights face up to three years in prison under China's Civil Aviation Law.
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