Jetstar Flight Forced to Make Emergency Landing in Japan After Bomb Threat

By Staff, Agencies

A Jetstar flight made an emergency landing at Chubu Centrair International Airport in central Japan on Saturday due to a bomb threat, though no device was found, officials said.

The runway at the airport was closed after the flight from Narita airport near Tokyo, bound for Fukuoka in southern Japan, landed at 7.41am [local time]. The runway was closed for almost five hours while safety checks were conducted, the spokesman said.

There were 136 passengers and 6 crew members on board, the spokesperson said. Five sustained minor injuries while evacuating from the plane, an official at the Chubu airport police said.

No explosives or other suspicious objects were found in a search of the cabin and luggage, the official said.

The flight was diverted to the Chubu airport, in Japan’s industrial heartland of Aichi prefecture, after a potential security incident, and passengers disembarked via emergency slides, Jetstar Airways said in a statement.

“Jetstar Japan is working closely with the Chubu airport and local authorities to investigate the situation,” the company said, declining to comment further.

NHK said Narita airport received an international call from Germany in a man’s voice earlier in the morning, saying in English that a 100 kilogram plastic bomb was in the cargo compartment of the Jetstar aircraft.

A Narita airport spokesperson said there had been a bomb threat call for the flight, but that details were unclear.

Due to the closure of the runway, some flights to and from the Chubu airport were cancelled or delayed, while the departure lobby for domestic flights was crowded with passengers seeking boarding pass refunds and transferring to other flights, NHK said.