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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 FBI inspects EVA flight after telephone threat
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-yu, left, yesterday answers lawmakers questions in the legislature in Taipei about a telephone threat regarding an EVA Air flight that landed at Los Angeles International Airport in California on Tuesday. The theat proved to be a hoax. Photo: CNA
LAX ALERT: US aviation officials said that they received a threat regarding an EVA flight 20 minutes before it was to land in Los Angeles, but inspections uncovered no danger
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
An EVA Air flight to Los Angeles was inspected by FBI officers and airport police immediately after it landed at Los Angeles International Airport （LAX） yesterday, as the US Federal Aviation Administration （FAA） received a threat targeting the passengers onboard.
Officials reported that the threat was a false alarm, as inspectors did not find any evidence of danger to passengers on the aircraft.
According to the airline, Flight BR12 took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 6:57pm on Tuesday.
The FAA received a telephone call threatening the flight about 20 minutes before it landed in Los Angeles.
After landing safely at LAX at 6:40am Taipei time yesterday, the flight was asked to move to an area according to instructions by control tower personnel.
The airline said that the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft was carrying 305 passengers and 18 crew, adding that all of them were asked to disembark the aircraft with their carry-on luggage to go through a security inspection.
Inspectors then boarded the plane, but did not find any weapons or dangerous items, the airline said, adding that the inspectors returned the aircraft to the airline at 9:40am Taipei time yesterday.
The airline said that it was the FAA that received the threat.
Civil Aeronautics Administration （CAA） Air Transport Division Director Han Chen-hua （韓振華） said that the CAA was informed by the airline about the incident.
Based on the report from EVA Air, Han said that suspicions arose that the aircraft could have been carrying a chemical weapon.
Han said that the US had received threats via telephone over the past two days, but they had all been false alarms.
The incident was discussed by the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday morning, when Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-yu （陳建宇）, CAA Director-General Lin Tyh-ming （林志明） and Aviation Safety Council Chairman Chang Yu-hern （張有恆） were scheduled to brief lawmakers on the investigation into the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight GE222 in Penghu in July last year, as well as how the government handled the aftermath.
Chen said that the CAA had asked the Aviation Police Bureau to enhance security inspections on flights headed to the US in response to the LAX incident.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
