Australian police evacuated and searched a Pacific Blue flight from Fiji to Sydney on Thursday after a threat was made against the plane, but nothing suspicious was found on board.
Officials said 102 passengers and seven crew aboard flight DJ 154 were evacuated from the Boeing 737 after it landed at 5.45pm local time at Sydney’s international terminal from Nadi, Fiji’s main international hub.
”Following an extensive search, nil items were found and the all-clear was given,” New South Wales state police said in a statement.
With passengers around the world already nervous after British police foiled an alleged plot to bomb transatlantic airliners, the incident was the second major security scare involving an international flight within 24 hours.
A woman panicking from claustrophobia caused a Washington-bound flight from London to make an emergency landing in Boston on Wednesday.
Phone threat
The drama at Sydney airport, Australia’s largest, was sparked after a threat was received at a Virgin Blue call centre that a suspicious device was on board the Pacific Blue flight.
”Virgin Blue had a call to our guest contact centre suggesting a safety threat,” spokesperson Amanda Bolger said.
Pacific Blue, which flies out of Australia to New Zealand and the Pacific, is part of Virgin Blue, Australia’s second-ranked carrier part-owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.
Bolger would not comment on media reports that the threat had been made in a call from the Philippines.
Aviation security officials in the Philippines said they had no information about a possible link.
Passengers said they had to stay on board as the plane sat on the tarmac for about an hour before they were taken off, but were given no details about the security scare.
Sniffer dogs
One passenger, who gave his name as Ken, said passengers were taken to a terminal and told to put their hand luggage on the ground and step back while sniffer dogs inspected it.
”No one was panicking, the passengers were very controlled and well-behaved,” he said.
”I don’t know what it was about because we were never informed,” he said.
Another passenger, surfer Mark Singleton, said they were originally told there was a problem at their disembarkation gate.
”I was a bit surprised how long the delay was in getting us off,” said Singleton after he got off the plane with a surfboard under his arm.
”You’d think with the amount of bomb scares before, it would have been done quicker,” he said.
The plane was towed away from the main terminal buildings and searched by bomb squad police after passengers were evacuated and taken by bus back to the terminal. The all-clear was given about two hours after the flight landed.
Australia, a staunch United States ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.
But the country has been targeted in recent attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings in which 202 people died, including 88 Australians. — Reuters