Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG147 was evacuated at Chittagong Airport, after a passenger attempted to hijack the aircraft.
The three year-old Boeing 737-800, registered as S2-AHV, was flying from Dhaka to Dubai International Airport, with a planned stop in Chittagong (south-east Bangladesh), where it was surrounded by security forces immediately after landing at about 5:40 pm local time. Chittagong Airport was temporarily closed for other flights, following the emergency landing.
The hijacker had attempted to gain control of the aircraft’s cockpit during the flight and then held a crew member hostage.
Officials confirm that the male suspect (aged 25) was armed with a gun and shot dead after eight minutes in the police operation, local media reports. All other 147 occupants of the flight are safe and remained unharmed.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the national carrier of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. It currently operates four Boeing 737-800, four 777-300ER, two Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (the first one was delivered to the airline during Farnborough Airshow 2018), as well as three Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 for regional flights.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.