Malaysia Airlines MH 128 forced to return to Melbourne

Sakshi Chaturvedi
Published on: 1 Jun 2017 4:45 AM GMT
Malaysia Airlines MH 128 forced to return to Melbourne
X
Malaysia Airlines MH 128 forced to return to Melbourne

Melbourne: A Malaysia Airlines plane was forced to return to the Melbourne airport after a man who claimed to have a bomb tried to enter the cockpit of the aircraft on Thursday.

Flight MH128 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was forced to return after take-off at 2323 hours on Wednesday night when a 25-year-old student from Sri Lanka tried to enter the cockpit, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The accused, who has been living in Dandenong in Melbourne's south-east, was tackled by crew members and several passengers, who overpowered him and tied him up with belts.

Heavily-armed police wearing helmets and body armour and carrying rifles boarded the aircraft after it landed, and placed the man under arrest.

ALSO READ: US successfully tests intercontinental missile interception system

The incident was not being treated as terrorism. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the man was carrying a "speaker-type device".

He added, "It looked to me like a slightly larger version of an iPhone...As one of these bluetooth-type speakers. It has cords that allow you to plug it into some sort of phone device to play music on."

ALSO READ: Blast rocks Indian Embassy in Kabul, staff safe; 80 killed

Commissioner Ashton said the man was released from psychiatric care earlier on Wednesday. He would be produced before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court later on Thursday.

Sakshi Chaturvedi

Sakshi Chaturvedi

A journalist, presently working as a Sub-Editor at newstrack.com.

Next Story