On Monday night, several Lion Air passengers at the Pontianak airport were seriously injured after exiting the plane’s emergency door and jumping off of the wing, while the engine was still running, due to a bomb scare.
Video of the incident quickly went viral but there have been various reports on what exactly went down inside the plane just before that actually caused the panic.
However, another video has now emerged showing investigators talking to the Lion Air flight attendants and the man accused of making the bomb threat, 26-year-old Frantinus Nigiri, immediately after the incident.
In the video, the attendants give their account of what took place in the cabin prior to the panic and admit that it was not Frantinus’ initial bomb remark that set it off.
According to one of the attendants, the panic actually occurred when the captain ordered them to get passengers off the plane immediately. “My Captain came out and then said let’s hurry, let’s hurry,” she says.
According to her, the cabin crew then told the passengers to leave the plane but admitted they did so without reminding them to stay calm as they were exiting, resulting in the panic and passengers jostling to get out of the emergency exit.
“(I said) ‘come on ladies and gentleman, quickly get out,’ but without (saying) ‘stay calm.’ Finally the passengers in the back all stood up and all started panicking. There were some passengers who opened the emergency window,” adds the attendant.
After detaining and investigating him, police have charged Frantinus, a scholarship student from Papua studying at Pontianak’s Universitas Tanjungpura, with violating air safety regulations by making a bomb hoax, a crime for which he could face up to 8 years in prison.
According to the attorney representing Frantinus, Theo Kristoporus Kamayo, his client confessed to mentioning the word bomb to a flight attendant after he got mad at the rough way she was treating one of his bags, which happened to contain multiple laptops.
In Frantinus’ version of events, the attendant then scolded him for making a bomb joke and said that it was not allowed, after which he apologized and bowed his head. A moment later, he was summoned to the plane’s gate for his bag to be searched. Security found the bag contained three laptops but nothing suspicious. He was then told to return to his seat.
According to Theo, things remained tense but calm until an announcement was made over the PA system telling passengers to exit the plane through the main door.
In Frantinus’ telling, it was not even that announcement that set off the panic but the flight attendant who repeated the request in the worst possible way.
“Passengers were asked to leave (the plane) because there are materials that can explode. Well, this is what made the passengers panic and then open the emergency window,” Theo said as quoted by Tempo.
Indonesia has been on edge since multiple suicide bomb attacks in Surabaya and other terrorist activity had the country on high alert about two weeks ago. And, in what is unlikely to be a coincidence, the number of people who have reportedly made bomb threats or jokes in Indonesian airports seems to have spiked over the same time period.
The incident in Pontianak was actually the second time a passenger made a bomb joke on a Lion Air flight this week. Another passenger had to be ejected from a flight leaving Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday afternoon for the same faux explosive reason, causing the flight to be delayed three hours. The company says they’ve had 10 passengers who made bomb threats just this month.
Last week, two senior party officials from of Banyuwangi’s Regional Executive Council (DPRD) made bomb jokes at the Banyuuwangi airport, causing the flight to be delayed and an ongoing investigation. They apologized but claimed they didn’t know it was against the law.
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