Bomb warning prompts emergency landing

Bomb warning prompts emergency landing

Essam Al Ghalib

Last Updated: September 11. 2008 11:21PM UAE / September 11. 2008 7:21PM GMT


A bomb hoax on an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah caused a red alert at Chittagong airport in Bangladesh on Wednesday.Bomb disposal experts, army personnel and fire officers met the plane carrying 81 passengers after a flight attendant found a handwritten note warning of a bomb on board. “There is a bomb set,” said the note written in Bengali left on a service tray, according to Air Arabia’s communications manager Housam Raydan.

A member of the flight crew who found the note asked a passenger to translate it for her. When its contents were revealed, she notified the captain who immediately alerted air traffic control of a possible emergency.The plane was given priority landing status at Chittagong and was towed to an unused part of the airport where it was searched, but no bomb was found. Upon landing all 81 passengers were asked to provide a handwriting sample and security personnel arrested a Bangladeshi man.

Full article: http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080911/NATIONAL/169508699/-1/NEWS