KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Two aviation experts have offered differing opinions amid criticism over Australian security authorities delay in responding to the Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 bomb scare yesterday.
Australian aviation management consultant Trevor Jensen said the over one-hour delay by the police to rescue the 337 passengers and crew aboard the Kuala Lumpur-bound plane after it returned to the Melbourne Airport was excessive and had possibly caused further stress to those in the cabin.
“That’s something we have to look at, why we get these long delays in boarding the aircraft.
“Normally in a security event police can board these aircraft fairly rapidly, “he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation today.
Jensen reportedly said that the use of Victoria Police’s Special Operations Group members also seemed to suggest that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) does not possess the ability to manage such hostile incidents.
“I would have thought that at a major airport in today’s world, the capability of the federal police should be higher.
“It might be better if the state police — who do have a capability — were [based] there,” he was quoted saying.
Another aviation expert however, appeared to support the manner in which the Australian police had reacted, adding that it was pertinent to be careful when planning the move, so as to not risk lives.
“The exchange of information between the aircraft and the responding [police] would have been vital for their safe entry into that aircraft,” aviation security consultant and former Qantas Airlines former security manager, Geoff Askew told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“Yes, that would have been extremely frustrating for the passengers and crew. But it’s a prudent approach by law enforcement to have as much information as they can before they enter what could be a dangerous situation.
“If he had not had a mental illness, if he actually was a terrorist… if he was acting in concert with somebody else on board that aircraft that had not been identified at that stage, then the response agencies at this stage are looking at those 200-300 passengers on board with suspicious eyes,” Askew was quoted saying, adding that it was best to grant the police the benefit of the doubt.
Earlier today, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported that the Victoria police took 86 minutes before they entered the Malaysian Airlines plane that turned back to Melbourne after the bomb scare because of a bungle among the officers.
In defence, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton was reported saying that the police had initially treated the situation as a terror attack, which could have been catastrophic had they just rushed in.
In the incident, a 25-year-old Sri Lankan national who was reportedly drunk, has fished out a large object, claiming it to be a bomb, and attempted to force himself into the plane’s cockpit.
The plane which had just taken off then, immediately returned to the Melbourne Airport, by which time, the man was already subdued by several passengers of the plane and its crew members.
He was later detained by the police.
Melbourne Airport remains in a lockdown over the incident and all flights headed there have been diverted to other airports.
The incident came just months after Canberra called off the search for missing Flight MH370 carrying 239 passengers and crew, after a vast underwater hunt off Australia’s west coast failed to find the plane.
