Vietnam Airlines has reported a rise in bomb threats in recent years including warnings issued by airline staff.
Vietnam Airlines has recorded several bomb threats
The latest incident on June 23 left a Vietnam Airline flight potentially cancelled for security reasons. The incident was triggered by a 25-year old passenger jokingly pointing at his girlfriend saying that she was carrying a bomb.
Threats
Vietnam Airlines has recorded five similar cases in the first half of this year, among 10 disturbances on their flights.
The first bomb incident on a commercial flight in Vietnam occurred in May 2006. Two drunken passengers, Bach Truong Son and Nguyen Xuan Hoang, both from Ho Chi Minh City, announced that their baggage contained a bomb when they had taken their seats on a Hanoi-HCM City flight.
The incident raised concerns over bomb threats in the Vietnamese aviation sector, and authorities sought to prevent further violations.
Only three months later, another passenger, Nguyen Thai Son, from Hanoi, joked that he was carrying a bomb. Son, who travelled on flight VN267, was the first to be prosecuted for threatening aviation security under Article No. 217 of the Criminal Code.
An additional passenger, Lam Tan Ngan, from HCM City, was punished for issuing a bomb threat only two months after Son’s case.
The country reported five bomb threats last year, despite tightened security being in place while several major international conferences were being hosted and the country celebrated the millennium anniversary of Hanoi.
Staff violations
Almost all the aircraft safety threats were caused by passenger ignorance. However, the most serious case was blamed on a Vietnam Airlines staff member.
Last November 9, watch officer of the Noi Bai Airport Terminal Exploitation Centre and head of the Vietnam Airlines stewardess group received an anonymous message via mobile phone that said there was a bomb on the flight VN845 from Hanoi to Cambodia’s Siem Reap.
To ensure flight safety, the airline was compelled to change aircraft in order to undertake a security check.
The Ministry of Public Security undertook an investigation, and after almost three weeks named Nguyen Bang Viet as the culprit. Viet was the moderator of the stewardess group.
Viet was held in custody for three months and was prosecuted in May this year for threatening the safety of the aviation sector. The case is set to go on trial soon.
Prior to Viet’s case, Nguyen Van Quang, an engineer for Vietnam Airlines crew No. 919, was administratively punished for issuing a bomb threat on a flight that departed Danang on February 6, 2011.