A passenger plane has made an emergency landing after a ‘gunman’ reportedly tried to hijack it.
According to a Daily Star report, the suspect allegedly shot a cabin crew member of the plane and tried to storm the cockpit of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight which was on the way to Dubai.
However, the pilot managed to carry out an emergency landing at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong of Bangladesh safely.
The report says, the plane, which was on its way to Dubai from Dhaka via Chittagong, landed at at Shah Amanat International Airport shortly before midday UK time (5:40 pm in Bangladesh).
It has also been reported that all the passengers in the plane have disembarked the plane (BG 147), while the alleged gunman and two crew members are still onboard.
A Dhaka Tribune report quoted an airport official as saying on condition of anonymity that a gunman tried to take command of the cockpit after the plane took off from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and forced the pilot to land at the Chittagong official.
Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh’s Station Manager at the airport Mahfuzul Alam confirmed bdnews24.com that the plane was indeed hijacked, but declined to comment further.
Police, Rapid Action Battalion and Armed Police Battalion have reportedly been cordoned off the area and have the plane surrounded on the runway. The operational activities at the airport have also been suspended.
Chittagong 8 MP and leader of a Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction Moin Uddin Khan Badal, who was also on the flight, told Somoy TV that the gunman had opened fire.
As per media reports, the hijacker has sought to talk to the Bangladesh Prime Minister.