Questions have been raised as to why police took so long to remove terrified passengers stuck on a plane for hours with a man who went on a wild rant about Allah.
Frustrated travellers, some with babies and young children, opened up about the nightmarish ordeal of Malaysian Airlines’ MH122 bound for Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Witnesses claimed a ‘disruptive’ passenger dug into his bag and said he had ‘a bomb’ inside, forcing the plane to turn back to Sydney Airport.
Passengers then spent up to three hours stranded on the plane grounded on the tarmac without food or water before they were finally allowed to disembark.
They had to leave everything on the plane, including their luggage, passports and even their medication.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb defended the police response to the incident in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police.
A Canberra man, 55, has since been charged with making a false statement about the threat of damage and one count of failing to follow directions.
He appeared in Downing Center Local Court on Tuesday, where bail was denied.
Passengers who were on the Malaysia Airlines flight that was turned back to Sydney remembered their terrifying ordeal on board
The ‘disruptive’ passenger on board Malaysian Airlines MH122 bound for Kuala Lumpur on Monday will face trial later on Tuesday
Nikitha Ezhu was traveling with a three-year-old toddler and a two-month-old baby she was breastfeeding.
She described the ordeal as “the worst situation”.
“We were able to get wi-fi but there was no food or anything on the flight which was really bad. When we saw the news, it really horrified us,” she told Sunrise on Tuesday.
‘It was a nightmare. There were a lot of kids on the flight and I don’t know how we got through that.
Some passengers said they did not receive any updates on board as to when they could disembark and learned more about the incident by reading media reports on their phones.
Ms Ezhu recalled how the police ordered passengers to leave everything on board when they left the plane.
“The children were then okay to finally have water and food,” she said.
She remembers hearing the man preach the Koran at the start of the flight before he claimed he had a bomb with him, forcing the plane to turn around.
“He reached Sydney and I think for two hours we waited on the flight for the police to come and do something, so it was really awful, actually.”
Nikitha Ezhu and her two children were among nearly 200 terrified passengers aboard the flight
Passengers spent up to three hours stranded on the plane grounded on the tarmac as it returned to Sydney on Monday afternoon
Ms Ezhu and her family were seated in the back of the plane, which was surrounded by fire trucks on the tarmac.
She is one of many travelers who have asked about the emergency response.
“I don’t know why the police took so long to come because we had been waiting on the plane for two hours,” she said.
“There were children and families who didn’t know what to do, had nothing to eat or nothing. It was really awful.
Other passengers went through similar ordeals when they finally made it through the airport terminal on Monday evening.
“We couldn’t find out what was going on, but we knew the plane was turning around. We could see it on the screen in flight,” passenger Fiona Roux told reporters.
“The agitation was intermittent. (It was) not alarming. When I really understood what was happening, it was the hard landing and stopping.
Like many of her fellow travellers, Ms Roux then turned on her phone and “found out what was really going on” from the media.
The man (pictured, without a face mask) says his name Si Mohammed and says he is a ‘slave of Allah’, before challenging other passengers nearby to repeat that they are also ‘slaves of Allah “.
Passengers had to leave everything on board including passports and medication when they were finally allowed to disembark the plane
The NSW Police Commissioner has hit back at claims the delays were too long.
“Given this was a volatile and unpredictable situation, we did not know the seriousness of the incident,” Commissioner Karen Webb told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday.
“You have to face what we learn about the passenger.
“We didn’t know if there was a bomb, so we had to work with AFP through all of those considerations in terms of what we were dealing with.
She felt that three hours to de-escalate the situation was ‘good enough’ and that extensive police resources had been deployed to respond to the incident, including the bomb squad.
“I know it’s terrifying for those on the plane and their families outside, but given the situation, you’re trying to negotiate, we’re not storming the planes,” said the Commissioner Webb.
“It’s not TV or movies, we want to protect the lives of all passengers.
“I can only imagine how terrifying that would have been for them.”
“I commend the crew for what they did to keep the passengers calm…to de-escalate the situation to the point that we resolved this matter in three hours.”
The NSW Police Commissioner has hit back at criticism of the police response to the terrifying incident on board
Fordham asked Commissioner Webb if it would have been “safer if they had a policeman on board sooner”,
“We can always ask if we could have done something differently,” she admitted.
“And there will definitely be a debriefing, but we can never assume anything and you don’t know if that person was acting alone or if they actually had other support on the plane or off the plane. plane,” she said.
“We are never complacent on these matters and we should never assume anything. We’re just lucky in Australia that it happens so rarely, but we should never just think it could never happen here.
The man was arrested without incident on Monday evening.
He was charged with one count of misrepresentation regarding threatening to damage 3 Division aircraft and one count of failing to follow cabin crew safety guidelines.
Violations carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of more than $15,000, respectively.
“Now that the matter is before the court, no further comment or update will be made at this stage,” an AFP statement read.
Many passengers on board the flight (pictured leaving Sydney Airport after the ordeal) have raised questions about the emergency response to the incident
