... a bomb was ready to explode on the Ambon-Jakarta bound Batik Air flight ID6171 on Friday morning...Ambon, Maluku (ANTARA News - Passengers aboard the Jakarta-bound Batik Air plane from Ambon to Jakarta got a scare on Friday morning when a bomb threat prompted the pilot to make an emergency landing at the Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
Ambon branch of Batik Air Manager Ramly Makawimbang confirmed that the bomb threat was sent by an unknown person via a short text message from a cell phone number 085211686682 to his staffer, Linda, at 7:08 am Eastern Indonesia Standard Time (WIT).
As per the message, a bomb was ready to explode on the Ambon-Jakarta bound Batik Air flight ID6171 on Friday morning, he noted.
According to Makawimbang, a similar bomb threat from the same number was also addressed to a Batik Air staffer here at 8:12 am WIT, but the airliner, with 125 people on board, had taken off from the Pattimura International Airport at 6:40 am WIT.
Soon after being informed about the bomb threat, Makawimbang immediately contacted Pattimura and Hasanuddin airports' authorities to direct the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Hasanuddin.
Batik Air, together with low cost carrier Lion Air, belongs to member of Presidential Advisory Board, Rusdi Kirana. He bought hundreds of new passanger aircraft from Airbus Industrie and Boeing Company.
Editor: Ade P Marboen
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