According to updates from the Associated Press, Xinhua is now reporting that there was a bomb threat–not a hijacking–on a Xinjiang-bound airplane. There are few details at the moment, but apparently the flight in question originated in Afghanistan and authorities in Urumqi have been told not to allow the plane to land in the city’s airport.
Update: According to CNN (H/T to kahraman), the plane was denied permission to land in China. It then returned to Afghanistan, where it safely landed in Kandahar. In the article Brian Naranjo, the spokesperson for the International Security Assistance Force within NATO, states
“There was an aircraft that made a precautionary landing in Kandahar,”
“But there was no hijack and no bomb.”
Whether there was indeed a bomb threat still remains unclear. However, the plane was flying from Kabul to Urumqi (and then to Kandahar), while avoiding Kyrgyzstan’s airspace, which it was denied permission to use.
Comments 2
just happened to read about this as I saw you post. a cnn article quotes a nato official in Afghanistan saying that there was no bomb or hijacking. another source in Kabul says it was mechanical problem, while a third source in Afghanistan, the president of the airline, says that kyrgyzstan would not allow the plane into its airspace, possibly due to bad paperwork. hmmm, hopefully Xinhua is not up to wily shenanigans. Time will tell…
Posted 10 Aug 2009 at 5:00 am ¶What a bizarre story….one day separatists are hijacking and/or bombing planes in Afghanistan and a few days later everyone pretends like nothing happened. Alas! The facts have disappeared into the information black hole that is Xinjiang.
Posted 15 Aug 2009 at 1:50 pm ¶Post a Comment