Bomb Hoax on Thai Airways

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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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Bomb Hoax Delays Thai Aircraft

 

(Bangkokpost.com, Agencies)

 

A bomb scare delayed a Thai Airways International flight to Dubai for three hours, affecting 270 passengers, the flag carrier said Wednesday.

 

Flight TG 521 bound for Dubai via the south Indian city of Chennai was to leave Bangkok early Wednesday. It was delayed after a female passenger, an Indian national, claimed to the airline that she had received a bomb threat on her mobile phone.

 

Thai Airways and security staff searched the aircraft, passengers' luggage and cargo for three hours, finding nothing, but decided to fly another aircraft as a security precaution, the company said.

 

After hours of delay, the plane left Bangkok late Wednesday, it said.

 

The passenger who informed the police about the bomb threat is under police investigation. It is virtually unknown for a passenger to receive a bomb threat instead of the airline or the Airports of Thailand, which runs Suvaranbhumi Airport.

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The following two stories appear in THE NATION:

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Bomb Hoax Scares Passengers on THAI Flight

 

A transit flight of Thai Airways International from India to Brunei was delayed by four hours Wednesday morning following a bomb hoax at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, police said.

 

A passenger informed airport officials at 10:30 am that she received a call to her mobile phone, saying there was a bomb planted on the TG521 flight scheduled to leave for Brunei at 11 am. The flight was from Chennai, India and stopped at the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

 

At that time, some passengers have already boarded the plane.

 

Tourist police and officers from Racha Theva police district station rushed to the airport and evacuated passengers from the plane.

 

Police checked through all baggage but did not find any bomb.

 

Passengers were later allowed to board the plane, which eventually took off.

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Foreigner Held Related to Bomb Hoax at Suvarnabhumi

 

An Indian Canadian has been held by police pending an investigation whether she had made a bomb hoax which delayed a Thai Airways International flight for about four hours Wednesday.

 

Padmapriya Nataraja, 29, informed an official that she had received a call to her mobile phone that there was a bomb on the plane.

 

She informed the official while she was about to board the flight at Gate D6 of the Suvarnabhumi Airport at 10:30 am.

 

Her information prompted officials passengers from the flight, which had left India's Chennai for Brunei and stopped at the Suvanarbhumi.

 

But officials checked and did not find any bomb in the baggage. The plane was delayed for about four hours before leaving for Brunei.

 

The woman was taken into police's custody pending an investigation whether she had really received such phone call.

 

Pol Lt Col Phakkhapong Sai-ubol said the woman would be charged if police did not find record that she had received such call.