Hijack threat disrupts Air China flight
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2004-07-26 13:55

An Air China passenger plane, with 108 passengers, had to disrupt its regular flight Monday morning from Beijing to central China's Changsha City, and made an emergency landing in Zhengzhou City due to a hijacking threat. 

The jetliner, en route from Beijing to Changsha, landed safely Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, an official at that airport was quoted as saying.

The man, Yang Jinsong, 32, is a librarian at Xiangtan University in Hunan Province and has a record of mental illness. After the takeoff, he walked toward the fore compartment and shouted he wanted to hijack the plane to the Republic of Korea.

According to police investigation, Yang claimed around 10 minutes after take-off that his companions had some sulfuric acid and would throw it on other passengers unless the plane headed for the Republic of Korea.

A small team was formed immediately to handle the case and two plainclothes policemen were sent to negotiate with Yang after the emergency landing in Zhengzhou, said Liu Guoqing, senior official with the Henan police.

Yang was captured at 10:20 a.m.

The police then examined the plane and other passengers but didn't find any conspirators or sulfuric acid as Yang had claimed.

A Zhengzhou airport official said the passengers had left the aircraft safely. The plane was not damaged, the official said.

An official at the airport in Beijing said the plane took off at 8:40am and had been scheduled to land in Hunan at 10:30am. She said 108 passengers had checked in for the flight, but did not know how many crew members were aboard.

"It is not that serious, we even cannot define it as a 'hijacking'," a spokeswoman from CAAC said but gave no further details.

Reports indicate the man had no weapon or explosive and shouted his hijacking intention in the cabin and threathened to hijack the jetline to South Korea. He was later overpowered by security officers and was taken off the plane at Zhengzhou. It is reported this man has record of suffering from mental disorders.

The plane, passengers and luggage would be checked again at the Zhengzhou airport.

A Changsha airport official said the incident was resolved and the plane later left Zhengzhou for Changsha.

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