Jet passengers tackle bomb threat maniac
A MAJOR international airport was forced into lockdown yesterday after a passenger threatened to blow up a packed jet.
The man – who tried to get into the aircraft’s cockpit – was tackled by passengers and cabin crew, who tied him up with seatbelts until the aircraft landed.
It was shortly after the Malaysia Airlines flight took off from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport at 11.11pm local time that the man tried to break into the cockpit, claiming he had explosives.
As passengers subdued the man – believed to be a Sri Lankan national – the pilot was forced to turn the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight around, landing in Melbourne half an hour after take-off.
Armed security officers stormed the jet to remove the disruptive passenger. They then escorted the other travellers out, according to witnesses. Andrew Leoncelli, a former Australian rules footballer, told local media the man was carrying a large black cylindrical object which looked like speaker.
He said the man was ‘screaming’ at the air hostess that he ‘needed to see the captain’, saying: ‘I’ve got a bomb and I’m going to f****** blow the plane up.’ Upon its return, the plane sat on the tarmac awaiting a bomb disposal unit. Passengers disembarked safely and those affected were offered the next available flights.
All planes due to leave Tullamarine were grounded, while incoming aircraft were diverted to nearby Avalon Airport and as far away as Tasmania. A Malaysia Airlines statement said: ‘Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 of May 31 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur was forced to turn back to Melbourne due to a disruptive passenger.’
Malaysia’s deputy transport minister Aziz Kaprawi was quoted claiming that the scare had been caused by a drunk passenger.