Bomb scare passengers jump from plane

PASSENGERS on a Virgin domestic flight within Australia leapt out of their plane on to the tarmac after a man left a one-word note in the airline’s toilet area, reportedly carrying the single word “bomb”.

The plane was surrounded by police and those aboard heard a call to “get out and run, run, run” after the airliner landed at Albury, south-west of Sydney.

Passengers were told to leave their luggage on board the airline and to evacuate through an emergency door. “The air hostess started shouting. She was saying ‘Evacuate, evacuate. Leave all your belongings, jump out the window,’” Wendy Willett, a passenger, told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“It was really scary, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to jump, but they said the police would help and catch us, which they did.”

The evacuation was prompted by the discovery of the word “bomb” on a sick bag that had been left in the toilet. The wording has yet to be confirmed.

Virgin Australia said a passenger – rather than staff – had said “get out and run, run, run” and that this prompted people to leap four feet to the tarmac rather than wait for the stairs.

Police arrested a 30-year-old man who apparently jumped out of the aircraft along with the passengers.

A police spokesman later revealed the incident was not terror-related and the arrested man was “being very silly”.

Ms Willett said the arrested man appeared “normal” and spent most of the flight reading, aside from a trip to the toilet. He was granted bail and will face court on July 4.