Bomb scare on MAS plane

Bomb scare on MAS plane

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian police evacuated 230 passengers from a Malaysia Airlines airplane at Kuala Lumpur airport after a bomb scare during a flight from Brussels, local news reports said yesterday.

Police said the passengers were rushed out of the plane on landing here Thursday morning before the aircraft was taken to a remote part of the airport.

"All 230 passengers and 18 crew members disembarked at bay four and the aircraft was later towed to bay 15 to isolate it," district police chief Johar Che Din was quoted saying by the Star daily.

Johar said a two-hour search by two bomb disposal teams came up only with a small box in the baggage compartment. The box was found to contain a copy of the Koran.

The scare was triggered after a flight attendant found a hand- written note in an aircraft toilet with the words "Bomb on board" at 2225 GMT Wednesday when the Boeing 747 was flying over Madras.

The aircraft landed in Subang four hours later.