Air passengers evacuated after bomb scare

Air passengers evacuated after bomb scare

Mikael Onny Setiawan
and Abdul Khalik
The Jakarta Post/Balikpapan/Jakarta

Security authorities had to search more than 150 passengers for
explosives after a Lion Air officer at the Balikpapan airport in
East Kalimantan received a bomb threat from a caller on Friday
morning.

The caller told the officer, Hidayat, that there was a bomb
planted on the Lion Air flight from Jakarta to Balikpapan, which
could explode anytime.

The threat was relayed to security officials as the plane,
carrying 151 passengers including four children, was about 15
minutes away from Sepinggan International Airport in Balikpapan,
at around 10:15 a.m.

However, the passengers were calm on their arrival as airport
security officers did not notify them about the bomb threat,
while rapidly evacuating them from plane.

Bomb squad and rapid reaction force officers from the
Balikpapan police, several ambulances, a fire brigade and a
platoon of Air Force troops later surrounded the airport as a
precautionary measure.

They combed the plane that was parked in an isolated area at
the northern tip of the runway, but found nothing suspicious on
board, while all the passengers were thoroughly checked in a
special room within the airport.

The officers also examined all luggage. A few hours later the
plane was declared safe.

Hidayat said he received the phone call at 9:58 a.m. and
passed on the message to Adj. Comr. Siregar, a police officer
with the airport security task force.

Siregar said the caller only identified himself by the name
Syamsuddin and claimed to be a member of the Indonesian Terrorist
Network. Based on a preliminary investigation, he made the phone
call from the Karang Rejo area in Balikpapan, Siregar added.

I.B.G. Winaya, the head of airport management company PT
Angkasa Pura's Balikpapan branch, announced to the public that
the incident was handled according to security procedures.

"During the process, all the passengers were in good shape and
looked calm. All of them are safe," said Winaya accompanied by
Balikpapan military commander Lt. Col. Donald Sitorus.

Balikpapan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hadi Purnomo, who was
also at the scene, said his office would continue investigating
the case to find the caller.

"Even though the bomb threat was merely a hoax, we will take
tighter measures for everybody's safety following the incident,"
he said.

In Jakarta, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that
his personnel were now trying to determine whether the group
called the Indonesian Terrorist Network really existed in the
country.

"We have never heard of such a group. In fact, the bomb threat
(in Balikpapan) turned out to be a hoax. However, we are now
investigating the group and whether it is linked with other
terrorist groups in the country," he said on Friday.

Da'i said that it was not unusual for some people to use the
relatively peaceful conditions to their own advantages,
especially ahead of an election.

The country has been hit by a series of bomb blasts over the
last four years with officials blaming most of the attack on
members of the Jamaah Islamiyah terror group.

The United States and Australia issued new warnings on Friday,
urging their citizens and officials to stay away from certain
hotels in Jakarta following fresh concerns they could be targeted
by terrorists.

The U.S. mission in Jakarta issued a notice saying potential
attackers may be seeking "softer" targets frequented by
Westerners, including hotels, clubs restaurants and shops.

Australia followed suit, releasing its own alert reiterating
its advice that Australians defer all "non-essential" travel to
Indonesia, AFP reported.

However, the police here said they were unaware of any new
threats of an attack in the country.