A Flyme passenger flight
has made an emergency landing at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport
(INIA) at 11:49pm on Saturday after the pilot received a bomb threat,
the Maldives National Defense Forces (MNDF) has confirmed.
All 11 passengers and
three crew members on board the flight have been escorted safely off the
plane, the statement said. The MNDF is now conducting a search of the
aircraft.
The airport runway was opened after a two and a half hour closure.
The
Maldives Police Services declined to state if any arrests were made,
only stating that said an investigation team is active at the airport.
The flight to Baa Atoll Dharavandhoo Island left Malé at 11:04pm, a journey of approximately 20 minutes.
Minivan
News understands a passenger on board the flight passed the bomb threat
written in English to the pilot via a member of the crew.
On
receiving the threat, the pilot immediately turned around and headed
back to INIA. All arrivals to Malé were diverted and departures
including a Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines flight were delayed.
Only one of the 11 passengers is a Maldivian, a Flyme official has confirmed.
A
year ago, on November 23, a Flyme flight departing to Gaaf Dhaal Atoll
Kaadehdhoo was delayed after a group threatened to hijack the plane.
Flyme
is operated by Villa Air, a subsidiary of Villa Group. Tourism tycoon,
Jumhooree Party Leader and MP Gasim Ibrahim is the owner of Villa Group.
Last
week a Flyme flight was forced to return to Malé en route to
Kadadehdhoo after a 59-year-old woman died during shortly after take
off.
Story and comments: http://minivannews.com
The Maldives Police
Service on Sunday said that they are investigating the bomb threat sent
to a Flyme Airlines passenger flight on Saturday night.
A flight
en route to Dharavandhoo Airport in Baa atoll had to make an emergency
landing at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) after the
cabin crew found the threat on a seat on the plane.
“The investigation is ongoing but we cannot reveal any of the findings to the press yet” a police official told Haveeru.
Haveeru
has received information that the culprits behind the threat had
demanded that a group of prisoners at the Maafushi prison be released.
The source had not identified the convicts.
According to the
official, a team from the service has been active on the scene since it
landed at 11:49 pm. Flights scheduled to land at the airport were
rerouted and departures were delayed more than two hours.
11 passengers and two cabin crew were safely escorted off the plane.
The incident delayed departures via flights from Emirates, Singapore, and Turkish airlines.
- Source: http://www.haveeru.com.mv
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