A bomb threat was made over the phone to Tokyo’s Narita Airport on Saturday morning, forcing a Jetstar Japan jet flying a domestic trip between Tokyo and Fukuoka to make an emergency landing in Chubu.
The suspect allegedly demanded to speak to an airline manager and threatened to detonate the improvised explosive device if the demand wasn’t met.
The bomb threat was reported shortly after Jetstar flight GK501 took off from Tokyo Narita Airport at 6:35 am on Saturday. Thereafter, the jet changed its intended course. Passengers were safely evacuated onto the runway via emergency slides when the Airbus A320 touched down.
Six pilots and cabin personnel were also reported as being on board, along with 136 passengers, according to the low-cost carrier. Five persons were hurt while being evacuated.
The bomb threat was made over the phone to Narita Airport by a guy from Germany, according to the Japanese network NHK. He asserted that the aircraft’s cargo compartment contained a bomb weighing 100 kg.
Unsurprisingly, authorities have not yet discovered any indications that a suspicious item was present on board the airplane.
Commercial aircraft are regularly the target of bomb threats, and each one must be evaluated by security experts and law police.
This is a particularly difficult choice to make since, as in the most recent event, there is typically a significantly higher risk of injury to passengers and crew during an evacuation than there is of a real bomb being on board the aircraft.
