Emergency response to shooting threat targeting Vietnam Airlines flight
(VOVWORLD) - A Vietnam Airlines plane was forced to divert its route but then safely resumed its trip after a man through a phone call threatened to shoot down the plane departing Japan for Hanoi Wednesday noon.
 (Photo: VNA) |
In a press release, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said flight VN5311 took off from Narita airport at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday with 47 passengers and 15 crew members aboard. At 11:10 an anonymous caller, who spoke Japanese but claimed to be American, said, "Flight VN5311 had better turn back to Narita or it will be shot down while flying over Tokyo Bay."
The aircraft was permitted by authorities to divert to Japan’s Fukuoka airport before safely resuming its trip to Hanoi the same day.
The CAAV said it quickly rolled out emergency response procedures and reported to Vietnamese and Japanese authorities to investigate the incident.