14 DAY TRIAL // A Virgin Australia Airlines passenger plane has been “hijacked” on its way to Bali, Indonesian media has just announced in a breaking news report.
According to AirLive Net's Twitter account, the plane has been forced to land in Bali, at the international Denpasar (DPS) Airport. The runway at the airport has been temporarily closed, and traffic is being diverted.
The plane involved in the incident is a Virgin Boeing 737 flight which took off from Brisbane, Australia.
“We got information that a 737-800 from Brisbane to Bali has been hijacked,” Indonesian air force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto told a local television station.
There is very little information available about the attempted “hijack” at the moment, but it seems that a drunk passenger tried to enter the cockpit. He has reportedly been arrested in Bali upon the forced landing.
It would appear that after the passenger tried to enter the cockpit of the plane, the pilot made an emergency “hijack call.”
Virgin Blue Airlines is Australia's second-largest airline and the largest by fleet size to use the Virgin brand.
Update: Police chief Suhardi Alius confirms the perpetrator is currently in custody and being interrogated.
Local authorities and Virgin Australia officials are now clarifying that the aircraft in question landed safely, and that it has not been hijacked. They say the incident was a “misunderstanding,” because the pilot called it a “hijack” in his distress call.
137 passengers and six crew members were on board when the incident happened. All of them are unharmed and have been evacuated from the aircraft.
Update 2: The local airport manager for Virgin Australia, Heru Sudjatmiko, explained that an intoxicated passenger caused the disturbance, but the plane was at no point hijacked.
“This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication. What happened was there was a drunk person. Too much alcohol consumption caused him to act aggressively,” he said.
“Based on the report I received, the passenger tried to enter the cockpit, through the cockpit door, by banging on the door but he did not enter the cockpit at all.”
Update 3:The drunken man who banged on the cockpit door has been identified by authorities as 28-year-old Matt Christopher from Australia.