A Saudi Arabian Airlines flight was isolated at Manila airport in the Phillipines on Tuesday morning, when a hijack alarm was accidentally pressed by the pilot.
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A Saudi Arabian Airlines flight was isolated at Manila airport in the Phillipines on Tuesday morning, when a hijack alarm was accidentally pressed by the pilot.
UPDATE: Saudi plane isolated at Manila airport after false hijack alarm, incident over https://t.co/YFYI0RPk69
— Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) September 20, 2016
Despite crew confirming the false alarm, the airport’s full emergency response was activated.
Manila airport manager Edmund Monreal said “it (the button) was unintentionally pushed. But the problem is it was pushed twice.”
He added, “It is fortunate that upon landing … the crew said they made a mistake. However, we can never play around with safety and security.”
Passengers were quickly evacuated, as officials responded to the situation.
Filipino aviation officials say penalties may follow for the pilot involved, it it turns out human error was indeed the cause of the panic.
The airline is yet to comment.