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Bomb-hoax stewardess sacked
A SriLankan Airlines stewardess has been sacked after an internal inquiry revealed she had made a call to the airline warning of a bomb on board a flight which was to take off for Singapore.

The inquiry revealed that the stewardess, daughter of a Ratnapura gem merchant, had given the false alarm because she did not want to fly that day.
Airlines sources said CID detectives had traced the call to her boyfriend’s mobile phone. This was one of three such bomb hoaxes in recent months – the other two causing much more panic, loss and even a death.

In one hoax involving a Saudi Air flight from Colombo, a caller warned of a bomb just before the plane took off and more than 400 passengers were on board. As panic-stricken passengers scrambled out of the plane, a Sri Lankan housemaid was killed and scores injured. In the other incident, a SriLankan flight had taken off for London and had been in the air for some 45 minutes when a caller warned of a bomb on board and the plane was brought back to Katunayake.

Police are continuing investigations on these two cases.

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