“It’s The First Time I Felt I Was Going To [Die]”: HK Star William Chan On Bomb Threat On Flight

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve truly feared for your life? Hong Kong star William Chan has. It was a particularly harrowing flight experience that involved a bomb scare, seeing plane dump fuel mid-air, and an emergency landing.

The 37-year-old recently shared on Chinese reality show Camping Life 2 that he had encountered a bomb scare on a flight in 2018 and the plane had to be grounded.

Recounting the incident, William said the flight had departed Paris for around three hours when he heard a code announced repeatedly on the inflight system.

When he saw flight attendants rushing in and out of the cockpit, he sensed something was amiss.

He said all the passengers watched the attendants scrambling but didn’t dare ask any questions. Then suddenly the passenger beside him pointed to the window and exclaimed: "What is this! Ah!"

His fears worsened when the plane suddenly descended and made a sharp turn. The force, said William, was so strong that all the passengers screamed.

"That was the first time I felt that I was going to be gone,” he said with a look of distress, adding that the plane soon fell into silence and the atmosphere was grave.

Thankfully, the aircraft stabilised and returned to the Paris airport.

However, the nightmare wasn’t over. William said he looked out the window and was shocked to see the large number of fire engines on the runway.

"That kind of panic, it’s like you are quarantined, but you don't know what had happened," he mused.

After being grounded for two hours, the passengers had to undergo checks before they were finally released.

It was only later that William learned that there was a bomb threat on the plane.

Half an hour after takeoff, the police received a tipoff about a suspected bomb threat on the flight and the plane had to make an emergency landing. However, the plane had to dump fuel before it could make the emergency landing. The bomb scare was later confirmed to be a false alarm.

Though William didn’t reveal which airline it was, media reports have stated that it was an Air China flight from Paris to Beijing.

The false alarm had resulted from a misunderstanding between the airline and a passenger who had arrived late for the flight.

The passenger said he was delayed due to an abandoned suitcase at the airport, but the staff thought that the passenger said there was a bomb on the plane.

Photos: iQiyi