In what appeared to be a next level prank, passengers jumped from a plane at a rural Australian airport on Tuesday when a threatening note was found in the bathroom. The note, which turned out to be a hoax, was found by police. This comes a day after a siege in Melbourne which police are treating as terrorism.
The police spokeswoman made a statement to Reuters saying that there was no actual threat just a note and nothing was found in it.
The police authorities confirmed that the 68-passenger turboprop plane with 42 passengers on board on a domestic flight was evacuated at the airport in Albury, in southern New South Wales, and a man was arrested.
A passenger was quoted by Australian Associated Press saying that he heard someone shout: "Leave your luggage. Get out and run, run, run." It said passengers jumped onto the tarmac.
A New South Wales state police spokeswoman, Emily Waters, told Reuters that police and emergency services attended Albury airport after receiving information that a note was located in the toilet area.
Waters revealed that all the passengers disembarked and a man was arrested within five minutes. However, she did not say what was written on the note.
The police met the plane on its arrival as indicated by Virgin Australia Airlines, due to a security incident that happened onboard, referring to the hoax note. The Airline could not confirm the number of passengers that were onboard the plane.
Malcom Turnbull, who is the Australian Prime Minister said that the police were treating a deadly siege on Monday in the southern city of Melbourne as an act of terrorism following a claim by the Islamic State group that one of its fighters was the shooter behind the incident.
