Bomb scare on flight from far western China forces emergency landing, no explosives found

Bomb scare forces emergency landing in west China

BEIJING — A commercial jet flying from a western China region wracked by ethnic tensions made an emergency landing after receiving a bomb threat that turned out to be fake, a police official and state media said Thursday.

No bomb was found aboard the China Southern plane after it landed late Wednesday in the city of Lanzhou, the Xinhua News Agency reported. It quoted an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China as saying the incident was a hoax.

The plane was on its way to the southern commercial center of Guangzhou after taking off from the city of Urumqi, capital of the western border region of Xinjiang, Xinhua said. The report said police in Guangzhou, where China Southern is based, received an anonymous phone call saying there was a bomb on the plane.

Urumqi and Xinjiang have been beset for decades by ethnic tensions and a simmering rebellion waged by members of the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic group. The bomb scare comes just a week after the first anniversary of rioting in Urumqi between Uighurs and members of the Han Chinese majority that left nearly 200 dead. In its wake, security has remained tight, aggravating resentment among some Uighurs.

All 93 passengers and 18 crew members on China Southern flight 3912 were evacuated and questioned while the plane was searched for hours, Xinhua said.

An official with the civil aviation office of the police bureau for Gansu province, where the plane landed, said the scare was still under investigation. Authorities said those responsible for calling in the apparently phony tip would be punished.

Calls to China Southern, Guangzhou police and the Civil Aviation Administration rang unanswered.

China’s government has repeatedly blamed bombings, assassinations and other violence on Uighur radicals with ties to Islamic extremist groups, including al Qaeda, though it has provided little evidence. Last month, police said they busted a terrorist cell in Xinjiang that had aimed to carry out attacks in several cities. Two years ago, a Uighur woman was accused of trying to crash a domestic flight by setting a fire on board the plane.

Critics say Beijing imposes heavy-handed controls on religious and cultural practices in Xinjiang while engaging in economic policies that favor Han migrants.