PM appreciates pilots, crew of Biman exposed to hijack threat

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday appreciated the ‘courage, intelligence and prudence’ of a Biman aircraft pilots and crew members which was exposed to a hijack threat on Feb 24.
‘You showed much courage, intelligence and prudence,’ she told the pilots and crew of the Biman aircraft that made an emergency landing in Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport as one of the passengers emerged as a hijacker.
The prime minister called them ‘heroes’ and said that they had successfully thwarted the hijack bid of the BG-147 aircraft.
‘You’ve successfully tackled the situation with a lot of courage to help ensure there were no casualties and damage to the aircraft,’ prime minister’s deputy press secretary Ashraful Alam Khokan quoted her as saying.
Ashraful Alam Khokan was briefing reporters after the pilots and crew of the aircraft BG-147 called on the prime minister at her official Ganabhaban residence in Dhaka on Thursday evening. 
The Dubai-bound Boeing 737-800 aircraft made an emergency landing at the Chattogram airport at about 5:40pm on Sunday after a young man named Polash Ahmed allegedly attempted to hijack the plane.
He was killed later in an eight-minute operation by military para-commandos.
Sheikh Hasina said that she had monitored the situation every minute during that episode and her biggest concern was the security of the passengers, pilots and crew.
‘I issued directives for safe evacuation of all passengers, pilots and crew members,’ she said. 
The prime minister particularly appreciated the temperament of the pilots and crew members during the episode and said that their plan to upset the hijack attempt was ‘extraordinary’.
Hasina also noted that most such hijack attempts across the globe could not be thwarted so successfully while all passengers were safely evacuated from the plane.
Captain of the flight Golam Shafi narrated the whole episode of the hijack attempt during which his fellow copilot and crew members kept passengers calm, secured the cockpit and engaged the hijacker in talks and eventually ensured the passengers’ safe disembarkation.
‘If the hijacker had entered the cockpit, he might have taken the plane to other country and tarnished Bangladesh’ image while we always tried to our best to protect our image,’ he said.
Shafi added, ‘We foiled the hijack bid by utilising our experiences and training.’
First officer Muntasir Mahbub and crew members Shafika Nasim, Hosne Ara, Sharifa Begum, Shaheduzzaman and Abdus Sakur Mojahid were present during the visit and thanked the prime minister for inviting them to Ganabhaban.
State minister for civil aviation Mahbub Ali, secretary of the ministry Mohibul Haque and managing director and chief executive officer of Biman AM Mosaddek Ahmed were present on the occasion.
 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net