THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 7, 2023 at 18:10 JST
TOKONAME, Aichi Prefecture--A budget carrier flight operated by Jetstar Japan made an emergency landing near here after receiving a bomb threat. Five passengers were hurt using the emergency exit slide.
Jetstar flight No. 501 was enroute to Fukuoka Airport in Kyushu from Narita International Airport outside Tokyo when it made the unscheduled landing around 7:40 a.m. at Chubu Airport on Jan. 7.
The aircraft carried 136 passengers and six crew members, according to company and transport ministry officials.
Everyone escaped via the emergency exit slide. Five people received minor injuries but not serious enough to require hospitalization.
Aichi prefectural police dispatched a bomb squad unit to search for suspicious items on board the aircraft, but nothing was found in the passenger cabin. A search was also made of the cargo hold.
Narita International Airport Corp. said it received the bomb threat from someone speaking a foreign language and promptly informed the transport ministry, which ordered the pilot to immediately change course at 7:18 a.m., leading to the landing at Chubu Airport about 20 minutes later, officials said.
Because of the emergency landing, the runway at Chubu Airport was closed to other planes. Airport operations resumed at 12:15 p.m., however.
By 1:30 p.m., a total of 39 flights had been canceled and four flights had a change of destination.
According to several passengers on the flight, the pilot announced an unspecified problem with the aircraft about an hour after leaving Narita and made the emergency landing minutes later.
After landing, the pilot announced that a bomb might have been planted on the plane and ordered everyone to use the emergency exit slide. There was no panic on the plane, although many passengers were clearly stunned by the announcement.
After exiting the plane, all passengers and crew walked to the terminal building where they awaited the resumption of flight operations.
Because Jan. 7 was the start of a three-day weekend, the departure lobby at Chubu Airport was packed with passengers and their luggage.
(This article was written by Haruka Ono and Toshinari Takahashi.)
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Passengers leave the Jetstar Japan flight that made an emergency landing at Chubu Airport on Jan. 7. (Provided by a reader)
