Batik Air Performed Emergency Landing Following Bomb Threat

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Indonesian Batik Air Airlines en route from Ambon to Jakarta with the flight number of PK- LAG ID-6171 has received a short text message consisting what seems to be a bomb threat.

As soon as the threatening text message received, the aircraft immediately attempted to perform an emergency landing at Sultan Hasanuddin Airport, Makassar on Friday (17/4/2015) followed by evacuation process of the passengers and cabin crew.

The Head of Central Communication from the Ministry of Transportation, JA Barata informed how the pilot has performed the emergency landing endeavour in accordance to the procedure.

"Yes, it is imperative for an emergency landing to be done at nearby airbase for such case. The checking and investigation procedure should be done after all passengers are safely evacuated out of the aircraft," Barata informed Liputan6.com correspondent.

"Right now, the plane is being checked and investigated by the bomb squad. That is the information that we have up until now," he continued.

There were 122 passengers along with 6 cabin crew and an addition of 3 additional crew on that flight, that have been successfully evacuated and escorted by security officers of PT. Angkasa Pura to the waiting room.

The aircraft's pilot, Captain Luther revealed how he was informed by airport tower Ambon about the text message they received from anonymous claiming the presence of a bomb somewhere in the plane.

The pilot then decided to discontinue the flight and seek for nearby airport, where he can perform immediate emergency landing and evacuation of everyone on board. Batik Airlines landed in Makassar at approximately 07.20 am.

Batik Airlines Manager in Ambon, Ramly Makawimbang claimed that a staff named Linda received a text message from a cellular phone with the number 085211686682 at around 07.08 am. The message concisely stated that, "There is a bomb ready to explode in Batik Air aircraft flight route from Ambon to Jakarta on the morning of 17 April 2015."

The threat worsened as soon as another staff, Yanti also received a similar text message concerning bomb threat in the aircraft. (Akp/Tnt)