A South African Express Airways plane en route to Richards Bay from Johannesburg was diverted to Durban on Thursday morning due to a security alert, the carrier said.
Sniffer dogs and the South African Police Service (SAPS) searched the plane and its passengers’ luggage after the 50-seater aircraft was forced to land at Durban International airport early on Thursday morning.
SA Express Airways public relations officer Dileseng Koetle told the Mail & Guardian Online that this was standard police procedure.
Mary Gauche, the carrier’s manager, said the Richards Bay airport had received ”a funny call” in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Koetle confirmed this and said that someone external called the airport, ”saying stuff that concerned security”.
The acting CEO of SA Express Airways, Inati Ntshanga, said in a statement: ”South African Express Airways rigorously adheres to international standards of safety to ensure air travel that is both safe and comfortable for our passengers. Our passengers can rest assured that all the necessary safety measures have been implemented.”
Koetle said in a statement that the Richards Bay airport is fully operational after the SAPS and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) investigated the alert.
The NIA declined to comment on the investigations.
Alleged hijacker in court
Meanwhile, plane hijack accused Tinashe Rioga appeared briefly in Cape Town’s Bellville Regional Court on Thursday, the South African Press Association reported.
A Zimbabwean student at the University of Cape Town, he was charged under the Aviation Act after allegedly brandishing a hypodermic syringe on a South African Airways flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg in June this year. He was overpowered by passengers and crew.
On Thursday, magistrate Hannes Lombard granted what he said would be a final postponement of the matter to August 24, for Rioga’s attorney, Josua Greeff, to find out whether he would still be retained as Rioga’s legal representative.
Greeff said he also needed the postponement for practical purposes, adding that Rioga’s elder brother, who resides in Zimbabwe, was granted a visa to visit South Africa only on Wednesday.
Greeff gave the court an undertaking to inform the Legal Aid Board timeously should he not get financial security to represent Rioga.
Rioga, who has been denied bail, remains in custody at Goodwood prison.