A bomb scare on board a passenger airliner from China to Australia forced the pilot to abort the flight, shaken passengers said on Tuesday.
A note warning that a bomb would explode on the China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Sydney was found less than an hour into the journey, passengers told reporters.
The pilot took emergency action and returned to Guangzhou, where about 200 passengers were delayed for hours as the plane was searched, they said when they finally arrived in Sydney seven hours late.
Airline spokesperson Bill Bryant said a threatening note was found in a lavatory on the Airbus A330 Flight CZ325.
”I was not actually aware of what the content of the note was but I understand it warned of some activities threatening to the aircraft,” he told the Australian Associated Press.
”They had no option but to return and make sure the aircraft was scoured from top to bottom.”
Australian passenger Jason Harper described the fear aboard the plane as it became apparent that something had gone wrong.
”They dumped all the fuel. Then all the lights went out. But no one knew what was happening,” he said.
”Then we landed and there were about 20 police cars and fire engines and stuff everywhere.”
He said the crew had told passengers the note contained a bomb threat.
”You’ve actually been moved to the back of the plane, all the power cut out, then they started dumping fuel — it was all pretty dramatic for everyone on board,” another passenger told national radio.
”Then, of course, we were all put into quarantine and a little bit of trouble with communication, nobody knew what was happening.
”We had no contact with Australia or English-speaking people.” — AFP
