China is reporting that a planned terrorist attack on a passenger aircraft late last week was foiled by on-board security officers.

The official Xinhua news agency says the China Southern Airlines aircraft had departed Urumqi and was headed for Beijing on 7 March when the attempted attack by an unspecified number of passengers took place, forcing the crew to divert the aircraft to Lanzhou.

A senior government official is quoted as saying that “some people were attempting to create an air disaster” and “we can be sure that this was a case intending to create an air crash”.

Xinhua adds that “the attackers were stopped in time by the air police, and all the passengers and crew members are safe”.

No further details are provided.

Source: flightglobal.com’s sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news

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