Airline failed to give proper evacuation guidance in Japan bomb scare

Crew on a domestic flight operated by budget carrier Jetstar Japan Co., which made an emergency landing following a bomb threat in 2023, failed to instruct passengers on how to use the evacuation slide safely, according to a report on the incident released Thursday.

The report from the Japan Transport Safety Board said the company did not tell passengers how to correctly position themselves on the slide during evacuation. It also found passengers were not instructed how to get off the slide, nor were they asked to assist fellow passengers after reaching the ground.

The evacuation occurred at Chubu Centrair Airport in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. Among the 142 passengers and crew who used the slide, 10 people fell, including a man in his 60s who jumped and suffered a broken hip.

Four others suffered minor injuries after the Airbus A320, which departed Narita airport near Tokyo bound for Fukuoka in southwest Japan, was targeted with a bomb threat, according to the board under the transport ministry.

A call was made to Narita airport in the early morning of Jan. 7, 2023, claiming that a bomb had been placed on the aircraft.