GA-150 canceled after bomb threat

BATAM, Riau: Garuda Indonesia flight GA-150, remained isolated on a runway in Hang Nadim airport here on Friday following a bomb threat which canceled the departure of the Jakarta bound flight.

Police here said they were taking the utmost precaution and had decided to await the arrival of a bomb squad from Pekanbaru in Riau province, about 280-kilometers west of here, as Batam did not have its own bomb squad.

"Tomorrow (Saturday) the bomb squad from the Riau Police will arrive. Tonight police are just isolating the plane," Barelang Police chief Supt. Bachrul Effendi said.

He stressed that due to the limited facilities of local police they could not determine whether if there was a bomb on the airplane which was in Batam on a stopover from its point of departure in Medan, North Sumatra.

Antara reported that the Garuda office in Batam received word of a possible bomb on the airplane from a reservations officer in Polonia airport in Medan.

The head of the Garuda Office in Batam said the bomb was said to have been placed in a cargo hold of the airplane.

It is unclear who reported the bomb to officials in Medan.

Upon receiving word of a possible bomb on the plane, just minutes before the scheduled departure time of 3:25 p.m., all 63 passengers and crew were immediately taken off the plane.