BEIJING - Chinese police have detained two people after a
domestic flight from the restless western region of Xinjiang was
forced to turn around when a passenger set fire to toilet paper in
the washroom, state media said on Saturday.
The official Xinhua news agency said the China Southern flight
was bound for the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
"The crew of the flight CZ6939 ... discovered the passenger's
behaviour some time after take-off," Xinhua said, citing Xinjiang
police sources.
"Two passengers, including a man and a woman, were taken away by
police after the flight landed at the Diwobao International Airport
in Urumqi," it added, referring to Xinjiang's regional capital.
"The case is being investigated," Xinhua said, without
elaborating.
In March 2008, Chinese officials said they stopped a plan by an
ethnic Uighur woman to bring down a flight from Xinjiang.
A source with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters at the
time that the woman tried to light flammable liquid smuggled in a
canned drink in the plane's toilet, but aroused the suspicion of
crew and other passengers.
China subsequently banned passengers taking lighters or matches
aboard flights. China airport security screening is normally very
strict.
Xinjiang's population of 21 million is divided mainly between
Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people long the region's
majority, and Han Chinese, many of whom arrived in recent
decades.
In July last year, Uighur protests in Urumqi gave way to deadly
attacks that mainly targeted members of China's Han Chinese
majority. Many Uighurs resent the growing Han presence in the
region.
At least 197 people died in the initial riots, mostly Han
Chinese, and two days later Han residents held protests and staged
revenge attacks on Uighur neighbourhoods.