Bomb threat man held
Passengers angry over being kept on plane
A MAN is in custody after an alleged bomb threat on an airliner above Melbourne, and police are facing questions why passengers waited 90 minutes to be evacuated from the plane.
Sri Lankan Manodh Marks, 25, is charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft and making false threats after a mid-air drama late on Wednesday that forced Malaysia Airlines flight 128 bound for Kuala Lumpur to turn back to Tullamarine.
Authorities have ruled the incident was not terrorism.
Mr Marks, living in Dande-
Pa Neh Htoo from Geelong won the Woven category with her Karen scarf.
In the 100 per cent wool category, Jo Bagge from Portarlington was highly commended for her Moonwalk scarf.
Other local region winners came from Torquay, Jan Juc, Bellbrae and Anglesea.
The scarfs, including the winning entries, are on display at the National Wool Museum until August 27. nong on a student visa, allegedly made a threat and moved toward the cockpit, but was grabbed by passengers who tied him up.
“In that one second, there were four of us out of our seats and we pounced on him,” passenger Scott Lodge said.
“All of a sudden, someone has him in a chokehold and got his arm behind his back, and the other guy choked him and he passed out.”
Some of the 337 passengers on board said the man claimed to have explosives in a device soon after take-off.
Police later confirmed the man was holding a harmless bluetooth speaker.
Mr Marks was released from psychiatric care on the day he bought a ticket and boarded the flight, police said.
Passengers have criticised authorities for making them wait 90 minutes on the tarmac not knowing if there was a bomb on the plane, before special operations police stormed the aircraft.
“If there was a bomb, we should have been evacuated. Instead we sat there,” passenger Stan Young said.
But Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said there were initial reports there was possibly more than one offender.
“(I) absolutely understand if you are on a plane in that situation, it could seem like a long wait,” Mr Ashton said, later confirming it took 54 minutes for officers to board the aircraft.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews backed the police approach. “It would have been certainly worse if police had rushed in and potentially made a bad situation much, much worse,” Mr Andrews said.
Mr Marks declined to face a magistrate late yesterday, with a lawyer telling the court there would be no bail application.
He is due back in court on August 24.
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