Jetstar flight makes emergency landing in Japan due to bomb threat

TOKYO, Jan 7 (Reuters) – A Jetstar flight made an emergency landing at Chubu Centrair International Airport in central Japan on Saturday due to a bomb threat, but no aircraft were found. been found, officials said.

The airport runway was closed after the flight from Narita airport near Tokyo, bound for Fukuoka in southern Japan, landed at 7:41 a.m. (2241 GMT Friday), but resumed operations at 12:15 p.m. after confirmation from security, the spokesperson said.

There were 136 passengers and 6 crew members on board, the spokesman said. Five were lightly injured during the evacuation of the plane, a Chubu airport police official said.

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

The flight was diverted to 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 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 male voice earlier in the morning, saying in English that a 100 kg (220 lb) plastic bomb was in the Jetstar airplane cargo hold.

A Narita spokesperson said there had been a bomb threat for the theft, but details were unclear.

Due to the runway closure, some flights to and from Chubu airport were canceled or delayed, while the departure hall for domestic flights was crowded with passengers asking for boarding pass refunds and transfer to other flights, NHK said.

Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Sandra Maler and William Mallard

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