Passengers take Jetstar crew hostage

Submitted by developer on Wed, 31/10/2012 - 19:06

Here are a couple of links to stories about apparent Jetstar crew members being taken 'hostage' when a flight was diverted from Beijing to Shanghai because of bad weather.

Below are 2 links about the incident written by the same 'journalist' that seems very vague in some of the facts and to me, almost contradict each other in some areas.

What do you think really happened?

"A JETSTAR pilot and crew were held hostage for more than six hours by a mob of angry passengers after their flight was diverted from Beijing to Shanghai because of bad weather.

The experienced Australian pilot is being hailed as a hero for his calm actions after being confronted by the angry passengers as they disembarked at Shanghai's Pudong airport.

Upset at the delay and fearful they would be abandoned and left to find their own way to Beijing, the passengers bailed the crew up inside a section of the arrivals area and refused to let them leave."

"Security, immigration and customs officers at Shanghai Airport stood by and watched as a mob of angry passengers assaulted an Australian Jetstar pilot and crew they had surrounded and held hostage, after their plane was diverted due to bad weather.

In what one passenger described as unbelievable scenes, no-one came to the aid of the pilot who was bailed up against a wall and being physically restrained by the passengers.

Alastair Johnson, who was on the flight, said he tried to intervene to stop the mob assaulting the pilot. But when he asked the nearby officials to call the police they told him to call the police himself."