Knife sparks emergency landing
08/04/2008 10:20  - (SA)  

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Bangkok - A low-cost Bangladesh airline was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok on Tuesday after one of the passengers sparked suspicions by using his own fruit knife at breakfast, airport authorities said.

The GMG Airlines 042 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka, made an emergency landing at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport at 09:30 at the pilots' request, said Airports of Thailand President Air Marshal Chana Usathaporn.

Flight attendants had alerted the pilots to a passenger who was behaving oddly and was cutting his breakfast fruit with a small knife he had apparently smuggled onboard, Chana told a press conference.

Harun Rashid Hassan Ali, 25, a Bangladeshi national, was detained for questioning after the plane landed but Thai authorities decided not to press charges after they determined that he had not intended to harm anyone with the knife.

Harun had reportedly been working as a labourer in Malaysia for three months but had lost his job after getting into fights with others.

Chana said Harun would be sent to Dhaka aboard a separate flight on Tuesday night.

The GMG Airlines 042 flight departed Bangkok after noon.

The pilots first asked for an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok's new international airport, but officials asked them to land instead at Don Mueang, now a domestic airport.

"Don Mueang is an easier airport to handle a hijacking because its not as crowded as Suvarnabhumi," said Chana. - Sapa-dpa

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