Passengers evacuated after bomb hoax

Passengers evacuated after bomb hoax

Mikael Onny Setiawan, The Jakarta Post, Balikpapan

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.