Passenger arrested after trying to set fire on Chinese plane
Passenger detained after Shenzhen Airlines issues Mayday call and lands in Guangzhou
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 26 July, 2015, 11:59am
UPDATED : Monday, 27 July, 2015, 8:21am
Kwong Man-ki
[email protected]
The passenger attempts to set a fire using petrol and a cigarette lighter. Photo: Weibo
A man tried to start a fire on board a Shenzhen Airlines flight early on Sunday but was restrained by cabin crew and passengers, mainland civil aviation authorities said.
Two people were injured in the incident, which broke out aboard Flight ZH9648 shortly before it was due to land in Guangzhou. A Xinhua report said there had been a "flight disruption", while its microblog said it was a fire.
Slides were deployed and 95 passengers and nine crew made an emergency evacuation. The police were waiting and took the man into custody.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said a passenger aboard the flight from Taizhou in Zhejiang province had tried to start a fire but failed. An investigation was under way, it said, without giving any other details.
Photos posted on Weibo showed a damaged airline seat and smoke-blackened door.
A passenger told Zhejiang-based Dushi Kuaibao the incident happened about half an hour before landing, and the man tried twice to start a fire.
"The flight attendants were making landing preparations, and they saw a fire at one of the doors. Two flight attendants and one passenger put out the fire with extinguishers," the passenger was quoted as saying, adding the man also held a knife.
Several crew and passengers tried to control the man and he was pushed into the first-class cabin, where he set fire to a newspaper.
Photo posted on Weibo of damaged seat on Flight ZH9648.
Passengers threw their bags at him, and he was restrained. "The whole incident lasted about 20 minutes," the passenger said.
Guangzhou Air Traffic Control received a Mayday call from the aircraft, an airline staff member said on Weibo, according to The Beijing News.
The newspaper cited a source as saying a passenger tried to start a fire with petrol and a lighter.
A Shenzhen Airlines spokesman confirmed the flight encountered a security threat but no additional information was provided.
The flight landed at about 1am at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
The incident is the latest in a series of safety scares aboard mainland airlines, including one where passengers opened an exit door before take-off. "How can he bring a lighter onto the aircraft without being spotted by security?" one person said online.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a security staff member at Yangzhou Taizhou Airport in Jiangsu province sustained serious injuries to her hand when a seized lighter exploded, the Modern Express newspaper reported.
The lighter was shaped like a grenade and was confiscated from a traveller during a security check on July 23.
