TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Batik Air president director Achmad Luthfie said the messenger who told the airline of a bomb onboard Batik Air flight ID6171 plying the Ambon-Jakarta route this morning did not leave any identity. He added a staffer with the airline received the anonymous message in Ambon.
“After verification, it was decided that the plane should be diverted to Makassar,” Luthfie told Tempo on Friday, April 17, 2015.
Earlier, the Transportation Ministry said the airplane had diverted and landed at Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi, at around 07:20 a.m. local time on Friday following the bomb threat.
The South and West Sulawesi Police have sent its bomb-disposal unit Gegana to search the plane.
Luthfie said the message was received around half an hour after the Airbus 320 airplane took off from Ambon’s Pattimura Airport, and was responded immediately according to security procedures. “Our personnel must know how to respond to threats,” he said.
The aircraft took off from Ambon with 125 passengers and seven crewmembers onboard. All passengers have been transferred to the airline’s lounge at Hasanuddin Airport. “They have received food and drinks there,” he said.
KHAIRUL ANAM
