A Cebu Pacific flight bound for Manila from Bacolod experienced a 2-hour delay on Monday evening, July 3, due to the bomb threat sent to a passenger, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said.
In a statement, CAAP said the Cebu Pacific passenger of flight 5J472 received the threat through AirDrop while inside the aircraft at 11:39 PM.
The threat has an image showing a bomb with a timer on it and a text that says “The plane is going boom!”.
Flight 5J472 ng Cebu Pacific na biyaheng Bacolod patungo ng Maynila na may sakay na 193 pasahero, 2 oras na-delay dahil sa ‘bomb threat’ –CAAP | @dzrhnews
— Christian Maño (@xtian_mano) July 3, 2023
📸: CAAP pic.twitter.com/6XWLwgtV8t
“The whole security procedure caused the flight to be delayed for two hours,” the civil aviation agency said.
All 193 passengers were mandated to undergo an x-ray final security check.
The flight was able to take off at 2:18 AM.
CAAP: The whole security procedure caused the flight to be delayed for two hours. The flight was able to successfully take off at 02:18AM on July 3, 2023 with 193 passengers on board | @dzrhnews pic.twitter.com/K5Shi0s21K
— Christian Maño (@xtian_mano) July 3, 2023
CAAP said that the identity of the perpetuator behind the bomb threat has yet been unidentified.
The Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group (PNP AVSEGROUP) has launched an investigation into the incident.
