Saudia plane grounded in Manila after 'false hijacking' report

September 20, 2016

Manila/Philippines, Sep 20: Philippine airport officials say a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane from Jeddah is "under threat" and has been put in isolation at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Airport (NAIA).

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NAIA officials said in a statement Tuesday that it had received information of the threat, which it did not describe, when Flight SV872 was 30 miles (48 kilometers) away from landing.It said the Boeing aircraft was moved to a designated isolation area after it landed.NAIA and Saudia officials confirmed the grounding of the airplane and said it was because of a false alarm of a hijacking attempt.A tweet by ABS-CBN News Channel, quoting airport General Manager Ed Monreal, said the Saudia captain explained that he pressed the alarm button twice by accident.

However, Monreal said security procedures were still in place.

He said the plane had more than 400 passengers.

TV stations showed the plane parked near a ramp with people standing nearby, while normal airport operations continued elsewhere.Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN showed images of Saudi Airlines SVA 872 on the tarmac being surrounded by airport security.

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