In Search of Eyewitnesses for CZ6901 Incident

(Southern Weekend)  Searching for Eyewitnesses for CZ6901 Incident.  By Ding Bu (丁补).  March 11, 2008.

[in translation]

Once again, this was an extremely urgent situation.  Late at night on March 10, I received a telephone call assigning me to write the story of the "attempted hijack of China Southern Airlines flight CZ6901 on March 7."  "This story must be included in this issue!"  said the voice on the telephone.  Oh my God!  The cutoff would be Wednesday morning.  I knew nothing about this incident, and I had only 24 hours left.  There were more than 200 passengers on that airplane and they are somewhere out there amongst the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens.  Our goal was to find these eyewitnesses in order to report what happened.  This was like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Recently, I seemed to be involved with the subject of airplane hijacking.  I had just worked on one story last week about hijacking.

So I started to think.  I know that two fellow alumni are working at two different airports.  I can try to contact them first thing tomorrow morning.  Another former colleague is now working in a key position at a web portal and he can help me locate eyewitnesses through a blog over there.  Another current colleague has a younger fellow alumnus working at China Southern Airilnes and he can inquire too.  That night, I sent an SMS to that former colleague and expressed my hope that he would publicize this as a "major incident" for a blog.  But at this point in time, I still had not established a blog at that website.

Early morning on March 11, I established a blog that my former colleague highlighted in bold red on the front page of the web portal.  The title was <Southern Weekend is urgently seeking passengers on China Southern Airlines flight CZ6901 on March 7>.  I posted my mobile telephone number there.  Meanwhile, my fellow alumni gave me the bad news -- they were not present at the Urumqi, Lanzhou or Beijing airports and therefore they have not seen the so-called <Internal notice> from the China Civil Aviation Administration.  But I was able to obtain a clue from the Internet -- over at the Shumu Community forum, a netizen with ID "Luckie" had posted from Zhongchuan airport in Lanzhou on March 7 and described his experience during more than ten hours there.

So I asked a fellow alumnus for his Shumu ID and password and I sent an email to Luckie.  I prayed that he would agree to be interviewed.

A colleague then sent me an SMS with the name and mobile telephone number of a first-class passenger on CZ6901 that day.  The colleague said that the standard procedure at China Southern Airlines is to retain information about passengers for only three days.  Therefore, this fellow alumnus friend working at China Southern Airlines would ordinarily not have that information.  But this particular passenger had reserved an extra ticket, which explained why his information was retained for a longer time.  The heavens were helping me!

I called that number immediately.  The voice over there was hesitant: "How did you find my number?  It is not appropriate for me to speak.  The relevant authorities will disclose the information.  It is not appropriate for me to speak ..."  I tried emotional and rational appeals for more than ten minutes.  This passenger was steel-willed and refused to talk.  I hung up the telephone in extreme disappointment.

It was 12:11pm.  Half a day had gone by already.  Suddenly an unfamiliar telephone number appeared on my mobile telephone.  But the person hung up after one ring.

I called back.  The other party said: "I was on that airplane.  I read your blog."

Oh my God!  I had published my blog post at 9:04am.  In three hours' time, a targeted person had found me.  I was astonished by and grateful for the speed of modern communication methods.

The following is what that person told me:

On March 7, the airplane was scheduled to depart at 10:30am.  The airplane was delayed for about 10 minutes.  At that time, everybody was already on board, so we must be waiting for the permission to take off.  The flight was normal thereafter.

After flying for about an hour, a passenger remarked that there was the smell of gasoline.  The attendant also smelled it because it was too strong.

We were flying on a Boeing 757 that day.  The plane was not big, and the rest rooms were located between the first-class cabin and the economy cabin.  There were more than 200 passengers.  The airplane was not full, because there were two vacant rows of seats in the rear.

I was seated towards the back, and I heard a quarrel.  An Uyghur woman about 20 years old was on her feet.  This Uyghur woman was seated towards the front to my right.  She was probably in the fourth or fifth row of the economy-class cabin.

A man went over there.  My guess was that he was the security guard.  He held the woman down and found a bottle.  He removed the bottle and then escorted her to the restroom.

We had no idea what was happening.  There was no announcement.  During the entire process, there was no chaos.  It was very calm.  At least I felt very calm.  Someone in the rear slept through the whole thing without being aware at all.

At past noon, we began to feel that the airplane was descending.  An announcement came that there was an emergency situation and the airplane was going to land at Zhongchuan Airport in the city of Lanzhou.  A few minutes after that announcement, the airplane touched ground.

According to the flight schedule, the airplane was due to land in Beijing at 2:05pm.  Instead it landed in Zhongchuan airport (Lanzhou city) at 12:46pm.

<Southern Metropolis Daily> reported that the China Civil Aviation Administration issued an internal urgent notice that the suspects had intended to ignite inflammable material inside the restroom in order to blow up the airplane.  However, the flight crew foiled the plot in time.

There were two suspects.  The notice said that the preliminary investigation showed that there were major gaps in airport security in Xinjaing which almost allowed a tragedy to occur.

After the airplane landed, the Uyghur woman was taken away.

Xinjiang Autonomous Rule Region chairman Nur Bekri was attending the two Congresses in Beijing.  He said that the unscheduled landing was due to "people attempting to create an air disaster."  He said: "Based upon what is known at this point, there was an attempt to create an air disaster.  Fortunately, the flight crew took decisive action.  They discovered the plot in time and prevented the action.  This incident had just happened.  We are investigating who these people are, where they came from, what their purpose is and what their backgrounds are."

After the airplane landed, netizen Luckie's post mentioned: "The airport personnel said: We cannot let a single suspect go to Beijing.  We must get to the bottom of this in Lanzhou."

The earliest post from Luckie was posted at 6:10pm on March 7.  The post appeared at the New Express area of Shumu Community.  The post said: "I was flying from Urumqi to Beijing.  Halfway there, someone was found to be carrying gasoline and behaving oddly.  The airplane was forced to land in Lanzhou.  The police took away four Uyghur persons (note: this remains to be confirmed).  We went through a new round of inspection at the airport.  Many people were interrogated.  We have been waiting for six hours already.  We don't know when we can leave.  Everybody is extremely agitated.  What rotten luck!"

Periodically, Luckie would use his notebook computer and wireless card to post from the airport.

When asked "if the airport inspection did not discover it, then how was it uncovered on the airplane?" the explanation from Luckie at 6:20pm was that "the bottle was opened on the airplane and many people smelled gasoline.  That traveler took the gasoline into the restroom and remained in there for a long time."

Then at 6:20pm again: "They are registering information about everybody right now.  I don't know if I can get back to Beijing today ... the female passenger who carried the gasoline had used perfume to cover up the smell.  It must have been intentional."

"I am lucky to have escaped," reflected Luckie.

6:53pm: "It's been six-and-a-half hours.  Everybody has been registered.  They say that they have to issue new tickets to us.  I don't know if we can leave today.  More than 200 people are stuck here.  They are not even providing decent service."

8:38pm: "it's been eight hours already.  They have just distributed rice boxes.  This matter has alarmed the public security bureaus of several provinces as well as the National Security Ministry.  Supposedly, four cans of gasoline had been found."

8:49pm: "Among the four individuals were foreigners, who are believed to be Eastern Turkestan elements."

9:04pm: "We have been on the ground for eight-and-a-half hours and we are not going anywhere.  I guess we won't make it back to Beijing tonight.  The airport personnel said: We cannot let a single suspect go to Beijing.  We must get to the bottom of this in Lanzhou."

11:22pm: "Eleven hours have gone by.  They are still taking down statements from people.  Through our strong insistence, they have provided Chinese chess sets and poker cards.  I don't know if they intend to keep us here overnight."

11:32pm: "It was obviously a case of sloppy inspection, but we get to suffer the consequences."

As Luckie wrote, the obvious problem was just how several canisters of gasoline got through airport inspection.  There was not much technical subtlety with this type of method.

The information showed that since May 1, 2007, the China Civil Aviation Administration has required that all domestic airline passengers may carry not more than 1 liter of non-alcoholic liquid when they travel.  The liquid must be inspected before being allowed on board.

On May 7, 2002, a China Northern Airilnes McDonnell 82 airplane was flying from Beijing to Dalian.  At 20 kilometers to the east of Dalian airport, that airplane plunged into the sea.  The ensuing investigation showed that a passenger brought inflammable liquid onto the airplane.  As the airplane got ready to land, the liquid caught fire and the airplane went out of control.

On February 5, 2003, the Civil Aviation Administration issued the <Public Notice from the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration concerning the regulations on passengers bringing fluid onto civilian airplanes>.  The rules require rigorous inspection of the fluids brought by passengers in order to ensure safety in the skies.

Nevertheless, the new rules of 2007 were still unable to prevent this case from happening.

During the two Congresses, China Civil Aviation Administration chief Li Jiaqiang was interviewed by the media and said the fact that this airplane eventually landed safely with the passengers and crew intact showed that the overall safety measures in air transportation in China are rigorous.

He said: "Over the past years, the safety level of Chinese civilian aviation is amongst the world leaders.  We have the ability to guarantee air transportation safety across our vast country."

The information that I obtained later from Beijing airport was that CZ6901 landed there at 6:02am the next morning.

That day, I also contacted a colleague working in Lanzhou media.  He explained the entire process by which Zhongchuan airport handled the case and even had some photographs.  But he wanted to consider whether the information ought to be disclosed.  The Southern Weekend editors also contacted an anti-terrorism expert in China.  Other colleagues did their best to locate persons close to the incident.  But none of this matters anymore, because on the afternoon of March 11, this story was aborted for reasons that everybody knows about. [Translator's note: This is the standard terminology to describe a ban order from the Central Publicity Department or some other relevant department]

What a pity!

Latest news: Today, China Southern Airlines chairman Liu Chaoyong said that a female passenger came out of the restroom and passed by the flight attendant who detected a suspicious smell.  The attendant alertly sensed that the smell was suspicious.  Then she smelled the scent of perfume and gasoline in front of the restroom.  The attendant immediately searched the restroom and ultimately found an inflammable substance inside the garbage bin of the restroom.

The attendant notified the airplane security guard immediately.  Based upon how the female passenger spoke and acted, they realized that the male passenger next to her was a companion.  The two individuals were sequestered.  The airplane crew then moved the suspicious substance into the special container bin for handling such materials.  The airplane made an unscheduled stop at the Lanzhou airport.  The two suspects were taken away by the police.

Liu Chaoyong said that the preliminary analysis was that the two individuals intended to stow away the inflammable material and then take action at the appropriate moment.  Fortunately, the flight attendant foiled the plot in time.

Related Links:

Terror threat is real, says Xinjiang chief; Claims that airliner plot was faked cause anger
Raymond Li and Ng Tze-wei in Beijing
12 March 2008
South China Morning Post

Xinjiang's chief lashed out yesterday at western claims that the foiled terrorist attacks on a Beijing-bound plane were fake or a pretext to crack down on Uygurs.

"I notice that there was some irresponsible reporting by foreign media and some so-called politicians and academics," the autonomous region's chairman, Nuer Baikeli, said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress.  "They expressed doubts that this was probably some incident created by the Chinese Communist Party in an attempt to crack down on certain ethnic groups. I am very angry."

Mr Baikeli said any attack on a civilian aircraft should be considered a terrorist attack.  "How can you apply double standards to this? It's unbelievable," he said.

Exiled Uygur dissident Rebiya Kadeer was quoted by Agence France-Presse on Monday as accusing Beijing of fabricating the plots to taint the name of her community.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang denied the accusation. "These people, like Rebiya Kadeer, link the government's efforts to strike hard against terrorism and connect it to the majority of the Uygur people, which is extremely insidious."

Terrorism, separatism and extremism have been named by the central government as major destabilising factors in predominantly Muslim Xinjiang.

Quoting an unnamed official, Global Times, a paper affiliated to the Communist Party's mouthpiece, People's Daily, reported yesterday that slack Xinjiang airport staff provided the opportunity for the attempted attack. A 19-year-old Uygur woman from Kuche, Xinjiang, was able to carry a mineral-water bottle and two beverage cans through security checks for business travellers manned by a relatively old guard at Urumqi airport.

Despite guidelines barring travellers from carrying beverages on board a plane, the paper said the security worker apparently dropped his guard to let the woman through after she took two mouthfuls from the bottle. The woman was later found locked in an aircraft toilet on China Southern flight CZ6901 with a number of cans filled with petrol.

The plane made an emergency landing in Lanzhou, Gansu , at about 12.40pm on Friday after leaving Urumqi at 10.35am.  None of the passengers or crew were hurt and the plane flew on to Beijing on Saturday morning after being held for several hours. Airline sources said four Uygurs, including the 19-year-old woman, were taken away by police for questioning.

Xinjiang party chief Wang Lequan said on Sunday, when officials for the first time revealed details of the foiled aircraft attack, that the Olympics were a target for the region's terrorists.   A group broken up in Urumqi in January was plotting to attack the Beijing Games in collaboration with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Uygur group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, Mr Wang said.  But officials have been quick to quash speculation that Olympic security will be threatened.  "We have the absolute ability and confidence to secure the Olympics security," Mr Baikeli said. "Our airport security is very well placed."

However, according to the Global Times, the woman took several flights to assess airport and on-board facilities as well as security-check procedures so she could take advantage of the security lapse.  Mr Baikeli said the investigation was continuing but "according to my personal analysis [this attack] must involve forces outside China". 

真是十万火急，不知道是第几次了。3月10日深夜，接到电话，要做“3月7日南航CZ6901航班遭骑劫”的题目。“这期要出！”电话里一个声音。饿滴神！最晚星期三早上截稿，对这件事我还满头雾水，时间却只剩下一天一夜——茫茫人海，一架飞机只有200多名乘客，我们的目的：找到事件亲历者，还原整个事件——不异于大海捞针。

最近似乎和劫机干上了，上周才做了个劫机的题目。
当下盘算，有两个同学在不同的机场工作，可次日一早联系；有前同事在某门户网站任要职，可通过博客的方式寻人；现同事有个师弟在南航任职，也可以问问。当晚便给前同事发短信，希望他能促成将博客重点推荐的“大事”。而截止当时，在他们的网站上，我还没有自己的博客呢。
11日一早，建好了博客，并被挂得老高，还红体已示突出：《〈南方周末〉紧急寻人！寻找3月7日南航CZ6901航班旅客》，留下了我的手机号码；同学那边却传来坏消息，由于不是在当事的三个机场：乌鲁木齐地窝堡机场、兰州中川机场和首都机场，所以没能看到民航总局的一份所谓《内部通报》。不过我还是在网上搜索到一个线索，在水木社区，有个ID“luckie”的网友曾在3月 7日的中川机场发帖，讲述在机场等待10多个小时的经过。
当下要来一个同学的水木ID和密码，给luckie发去一封信，祈祷他能及时看到受访。
同事回来短信，发过来乘坐当日CZ6901的一个头等舱乘客的姓名和手机号。同事说，本来按流程，一趟航班的乘客的信息一般只会保留三天，所以按说这些信息他师弟那里不会有了，但这名乘客因为多订了一张机票的原因，因故信息保留了下来。当真天助。
立马电话过去，传过来的却是一个优柔犹豫的声音：你们怎么知道我的电话的？我还是不方便说吧，有关方面应该会有信息披露的，我这里说也不合适……晓之以情，动之以理，10多分钟啊，这名乘客也太铁石心肠了吧，愣是没有松口。失望之极地挂断电话。
12时11分，时间已过去半天。我的手机上，突然出现一个陌生的号码，响一声就断了。
回电过去，对方说：“我在那架飞机上。我看到了你的博客。”
饿滴神！当天上午09:24，我才把寻人启事发在博客上，不到三小时后，我想要找的人就找到了我。现代传播手段的有效快捷，真是不得不令人惊讶佩服，还有感谢。
下文中楷体是当事人讲述。

3月7日那天，飞机起飞时间应该是上午10时30分，当天晚点大概10分钟，当时大家都已经登机了，应该是正常的等起飞的指令。后来的飞行比较正常。
但飞行了不到一个小时，有乘客说闻到了汽油的味道。乘务员也闻到了，味道太明显了。
当天我们乘坐的是波音757型飞机，飞机不大，只有头等舱和经济舱之间有卫生间。飞机上有200多名乘客，还没有坐满，在飞机末端还有两排空位。
我坐得比较靠后，听到了前面发生了争吵。一个20岁左右的维族女孩站着。这名维吾尔女乘客坐得比较靠前，在右方，机翼的前面，应该是经济舱的第四、五排左右。
一个男的走过去，估计是飞机上的安全员。过去就按住了她，后来在她身上找到了易拉罐，拿掉了。然后把他带到了卫生间那儿。
我们不知道发生了什么事情，广播也一直没有通知。整个过程中，场景没有混乱过，很平静。我感觉还是比较安静的，有人在后舱睡觉，根本不知道发生了这件事情。
到12点多的时候，我们感觉到飞机在下降，这时候才有广播通知说，因为有紧急情况发生，飞机将备降在兰州中川机场。通知后不到几分钟，飞机就落地了。
按预定航程，这架飞机本应在当天下午14点05分，但是在12点46分，降落在了中川机场。
《南方都市报》披露国家民航总局一份内部紧急通报说，歹徒是在洗手间内欲点燃燃料引爆飞机时，被空乘人员发现。

歹徒一共两名。通报还说，初步查明新疆机场安检确实存在重大纰漏，安检人员出现漏检险酿惨剧。


落地之后，维吾尔女孩就被带走了。


正在北京参加两会的新疆维吾尔自治区主席努尔•白克力说，迫降的发生是因为“有人试图制造一起空难”。他说：“从现在来看，这是一起企图制造空难的事件。所幸的是机组人员采取果断措施，及时发现并制止了这一行为。这一案件刚刚发生，这一事件当中的人是何许人、来自哪里、目的是什么、有什么样的背景，我们正在审查当中。”

落地之后的事情，网友luckie已在帖子提及：“机场人员的话：决不能把一个可疑分子带入北京，一定在兰州排查清楚。”
最早的帖子发在3月7日下午18点10分，帖子是发在水木社区NewExpress信区。帖子里说，“乌鲁木齐飞北京，飞到一半发现有人携带汽油，且行动异常。飞机中途迫降到兰州，警察带走了4个（待证实。括号为博主所注）维族人。到了机场逐一从新安检，找了很多人录口供，已经等了6个小时，还不知道啥时候能走。大家及其（应为极其）烦躁中。真倒霉。”
随后每隔一段时间，luckie使用随身携带的笔记本和无线网卡，一直现场直播式的发帖。
被问“机场安检没发现，飞机上怎么发现的”时，18:20解释“在飞机上打开了，很多人闻道了汽油味，该旅客携带汽油近了卫生间，好久都不出来。”
再接着，18:20：“现在正在登记每个人的信息，不知道今天能否回到北京了。……那个带汽油的女乘客还用香水隐藏味道，估计是蓄意的。”
“逃过一劫啊。” luckie感叹。
18:53：“已经6个半小时了，把所有人信息登记完毕，说得给我们改签，不知道今天能不能走了。200多人困在这里，也不提供好点的服务。”
20:38：“已经8个小时了，刚发了盒饭。已经惊动几省公安厅和国家安全局，据说查出4个易拉罐汽油。”
20:49：“4人中有境外人员，疑似东突分子。”
21:04：“备降了8个半小时，还是按兵不动，估计今晚回不了北京了。机场人员的话：决不能把一个可疑分子带入北京，一定在兰州排查清楚。”
23:22：“11个小时过去了，还在陆续找人录口供。在大家的强烈要求下，提供了象棋和扑克。不知道是不是打算关我们一夜。”
23:32：“明显是安检疏忽，我们倒了霉。”

正如luckie所言，本事件一个明显的问题是，数罐汽油如何通过机场安检？这样的骑劫方式，其实没有任何技术含量。

资料表明，民航总局自2007年5月1日起规定，我国旅客携带液体乘机时，乘坐中国国内航班的旅客，每人每次可随身携带总量不超过1升的液态物品(不含酒类)，超出部分必须交运。液态物品须开瓶检查确认无疑后，方可携带。
而此前的2002年5月7日，中国北方航空公司一架麦道82型客机从北京飞往大连时，在大连机场东侧约20公里海面失事。事后调查结论是有乘客携带易燃液体上飞机，在飞机即将降落大连机场时，点燃易燃液体引发大火，飞机随即失控坠海。
中国民航当局特地在2003年2月5日发布《中国民用航空总局关于对旅客随身携带液态物品乘坐民航飞机加强管理的公告》，对旅客携带的液态物品实施严格检查，确保空防安全。
孰料2007年的新规，依然未能杜绝此事件的发生。
而本次两会上，民航总局局长李家祥接受媒体采访时说，客机最后安全迫降，乘客安全，这说明中国民航的整体安全防卫措施是严密的。

他说：“这些年来，中国民航的安全水平在世界上也是属于靠前的，我们有能力确保广大领域的航空运输安全。”

我后来从首都机场查询到的消息是，CZ6901航班最终进港时间是次日凌晨6点02分。
当天，我还联系到了兰州某媒体兄弟，对方说了解这件事情在中川机场处理的整个过程，甚至有一些图片，但要斟酌是否披露；编辑联系了一直熟稔的国内反恐领域的专家；还麻烦了若干同事去尽量寻找尽可能接近核心消息源的人。但这些已经不再重要了，因为在3月11日下午，这个题目由于众所周知的原因，夭折了。
恨啊！

最新消息：今日南航董事长刘绍勇说，一名女性乘客从洗手间出来后，经过乘务员时，被闻到她身上有可疑气味。乘务员机敏地感觉这种味道很不对，之后在洗手间门口，她也闻到有刺鼻的香水混杂汽油的味道。乘务员立马在卫生间进行检查，搜了所有地方后，终于在卫生间垃圾桶里发现了可造成燃烧的物体。

乘务员立即报告机组安保人员，并通过这位女性的言谈举止，发现旁边座位的另一名男性乘客是其同伙。将两人隔离后，机组按照程序把可疑物品放在专门处理器械里头进行处理。飞机迫降兰州机场后，两名嫌疑人被警方带走。

刘绍勇说，初步分析这两人是计划把爆炸物先储存起来，然后寻找合适时机作案，正好被乘务员发现。