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. Sometimes when people are tense they’ll say inappropriate things out of nervousness, but we don’t think that’s enough to explain all the people who have allegedly made bomb jokes at Indonesian airports since the attacks.
The latest and most dramatic incident involves a young man accused of making a bomb joke while on Jakarta-bound Lion Flight JT 687, which was on the runway of the airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, yesterday.
The resultant panic led passengers to open the emergency door so they could evacuate out onto the wing but several were hurt while dangerously trying to jump off the wing by sliding off the side of the still running engine. Police said eight had injuries severe enough to require serious medical care.
Security detained the suspect, a young man they identified to the media as FN, a Papuan scholarship student at Universitas Tanjungpura in Pontianak. They confirmed there were no explosives in his bag or on the plane.
Some initial media reports said that FN talked about a bomb being on the plane after becoming angry with an attendant moving his bag. However police said they had not yet officially charged him with violating air safety regulations as the investigation is ongoing.
There are other reports that FN was telling the cabin crew member moving his bag “hati-hati ada laptop, Bu,” (“Be careful there is a laptop, ma’am) and that somebody misheard him saying there’s a bomb. The crew quickly asked him to be questioned in another area but other passengers had already become panicked and soon the the emergency door was opened.
Lion Air spokesperson Danang Mandala Prihanton said that the passengers had been given the standard instructions regarding use of the emergency exits and that they were never instructed to open the door by the crew.
The flight, originally scheduled to leave Pontianak at 6:50pm finally departed at 9:45pm, left minus the suspect and the injured passengers and arrived in Jakarta without incident.
If FN is charged with violating civil aviation security laws he, like all those who make bomb jokes or threats on airplanes in Indonesia, could face up to 8 years in prison.
Unbelievably, this is the second time a passenger has 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.
Last week, two senior party officials from of Banyuwangi’s Regional Executive Council (DPRD) make 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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