Cathay A333 at Hong Kong and Taipei on May 15th 2015, "explosives, handle with care"

Last Update: May 16, 2015 / 20:05:58 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
May 15, 2015

Classification
Incident

Airline
Cathay Pacific

Flight number
CX-494

Departure
Hong Kong, China

Destination
Taipei, Taiwan

Aircraft Registration
B-LAZ

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300

ICAO Type Designator
A333

A Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300, registration B-LAZ performing flight CX-494 from Hong Kong (China) to Taipei (Taiwan), completed what appeared to be an uneventful flight with a safe landing in Taipei.

While unloading the aircraft a ground worker discovered a luggage container with a hand written label in Chinese indicating "Explosives! Handle with care!" and alerted security forces resulting in a massive deployment of police and firefighting forces including the bomb squad. The aircraft was moved away from the terminal to the remote stand 605. The bomb squad subsequently examined the container and found no trace of explosives. The aircraft was released to service after about 100 minutes on the ground.

The passengers for the return flight CX-495 to Hong Kong (China) boarded the aircraft at the remote stand and reached their destination with a delay of 30 minutes.

Taiwan's Police identified the flight as CX-450 with 377 passengers and 17 crew (editorial note: which was flown by a Boeing 777-300 registration B-HNN) and reported that the luggage container had been loaded in Hong Kong, noone had access to the container until landing in Taipei, it is therefore being assumed, that the label was attached in Hong Kong already. Surveillance cameras at Hong Kong Airport are now being checked.

Radar data as well as pictorial evidence rule out the Boeing 777-300 performing flight CX-450 despite being identified by Taiwan's police, radar data instead identify Airbus A330-300 B-LAZ, rotation CX-494/CX-495, as the aircraft involved parking at gate B6 initially then being pushed back to remote position 605, photos (see below) also identify an Airbus A330-300.

Hong Kong's and Taiwan's Civil Aviation Authorities are investigating the occurrence.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
May 15, 2015

Classification
Incident

Airline
Cathay Pacific

Flight number
CX-494

Departure
Hong Kong, China

Destination
Taipei, Taiwan

Aircraft Registration
B-LAZ

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300

ICAO Type Designator
A333

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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