Seorang penumpang pesawat Virgin Australia yang dalam penerbangan ke Denpasar, Bali dari Brisbane, Australia hari ini dilaporkan cuba memasuki kokpit menyebabkan pesawat berkenaan dikatakan dirampas, ketika mendarat di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Ngurah Rai, Bali.
Pada awalnya, laporan tentang pesawat Boeing 737-800 itu dirampas, disahkan seorang pegawai kanan Tentera Udara Indonesia, Hadi Tjahjanto dalam temubual secara langsung dengan stesen televisyen tempatan, MetroTV, hari ini.
Bagaimanapun, jurucakap Virgin Blue kemudian dilaporkan berkata, penumpang yang ditangkap itu berada dalam keadaan mabuk ketika cuba memasuki kokpit dan tidak berniat merampas pesawat tersebut.
Sementara itu, jurucakap Tentera Udara Indonesia berkata, semua penumpang tidak dicederakan dan dibawa keluar dari pesawat berkenaan di Denpasar.
Penumpang berumur 28 tahun itu kini ditahan pihak berkuasa untuk siasatan lanjut.
Syarikat penerbangan Virgin Australia yang sebelum ini dikenali sebagai Virgin Blue, adalah syarikat penerbangan kedua terbesar Australia. – Bernama
Virgin Australia’s representative at Bali’s international airport, Heru Sudjatmiko, says a drunken and unruly passenger became aggressive and was handcuffed by cabin crew.
"This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication. What happened was there was a drunk person... too much alcohol consumption caused him to act aggressively," he said.
"Based on the report I received, the passenger tried to enter the cockpit, through the cockpit door, by banging on the door but he did not enter the cockpit at all."
The message relayed to air traffic control about an attempt to breach the cockpit reportedly triggered the airport’s "worst case scenario" response leading to the misreporting of a hijacking.
"We then guided the flight to land as they were flying close to the airport," transport ministry official Herry Bakti said.
Indonesian police say they have arrested a man and are now questioning him.
"The suspect is being interrogated by police in Bali," said Suhardi Alius, a police official in Jakarta ~ ABC