WAR ON TERRORISM
Xinjiang airline tells cabin marshals of duty to sacrifice themselves
china.scmp.com
The regional Xinjiang Airlines has put a second sky marshal on its flights to Islamabad, Moscow and Central Asian republics, telling them to sacrifice themselves if they have to.
"There is a relatively high possibility of an emergency on these flights," said a senior airline official in Urumqi. "We have asked the air police to sacrifice themselves to ensure the safety of passengers."
Xinjiang Airlines had applied for permission for the sky marshals to carry tranquilliser guns but had not yet won approval from the national aviation authority.
However, the marshals could use knives, electric batons, tear gas, handcuffs and rope stored on the plane, he said. Pilots would strictly enforce an order to keep cockpit doors locked regardless of what happened in the cabin, he said. The order was issued before the attacks on the US, but had been enforced only loosely.
Previously, Xinjiang Airlines had only put two sky marshals on flights to the southeastern coast, where several planes were hijacked and forced to fly to Taiwan in the 1990s. "We have shifted the focus of our security work from coastal areas to inland areas," the airline official said.
China sees ethnic Uygurs in Xinjiang as its most serious terrorist threat and has blamed them for sporadic bombings and assassinations. Some allegedly trained in camps linked to Osama bin Laden.
An aviation official said China had no policy to shoot down civilian planes if they threatened cities or other important targets, as has been adopted in the US, but authorities were considering changing security measures in light of the attacks.
Passengers at Chek Lap Kok faced delays yesterday as the ban on knives and blades in plane cabins took effect. Authorities confiscated razors, nail files, knives, tweezers, clippers, bottle openers, scissors and even some combs. |
