Xinjiang Terrorist Attack Foiled in Mid-Air
I’ve flown China Southern Airlines several times. It’s the main airline servicing routes from most Chinese airports to Urumqi. Unlike in the United States, here in China it’s still a-okay to make “young and sexy” a requirement for being a flight attendant, and so I think very few people will disagree with me when I observe that most stewardesses on China Southern flights are dainty, attractive young women.
Those women are actually a lot more macho than you may imagine.
In the last article I wrote, I wondered how long it would take for Xinjiang to be booted off the the number 1 headline spot on China Daily. The answer is: not long, because the front page got rearranged while I was writing it. The top article is now one on air quality, but more relevant to us is the second article, freshly published, is one about an apparent terrorist attack on a flight from Urumqi that was successfully foiled en route.
The plane of China Southern Airlines was forced to land in Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province, at 12:40 Friday, because “some people were attempting to create an air disaster,” said Wang Lequan, Politburo member of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Xinjiang’s Party chief.
The terrorists were stopped by the air crew in time, and all the passengers and crew members on board are safe, he told reporters after a panel discussion at the ongoing legislative session.
The details are still under wraps, as the incident is still under investigation. We don’t know who the perpetrators are, why they did it, how they did it, and how the incident was resolved. Obviously, here at TND we’ll keep our antennae in the air for further details. Until then, you can amuse yourself with images of a tiny, uniformed Chinese woman taking down a grizzled and fanatical terrorist.
Update: Davesgonechina has commented on the incident alongside Nur Bekri’s comments at the National People’s Congress in this post on his blog. He’s identified the flight as CZ9601, a major route flown on a 757 from Urumqi to Beijing.
Update 2: For the second time in a week, Xinjiang has reached a front page story on CNN’s website, this time in a small blurb covering the airline incident. Six days ago, CNN ran a report on sexuality in China that gave Xinjiang a passing mention.
Update 3: The “foiled terrorist plot” story as of Monday morning, Beijing time, is the most viewed story on CNN.
Damn, you’re posting like crazy lately! Good stuff… you’ve got to get ready to take over the Xinjiang blogosphere residency after my departure.
I’m honestly impressed by these flight attendants, should this story turn out to be true. I know that dealing with disasters is in a flight attendant’s job description, but, based on my experience on China Southern, I’m a bit shocked.
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