Senior passenger offloaded after bomb joke at Mindoro airport

(Photo courtesy of Caap)

MANILA, Philippines — A 61-year-old female passenger was offloaded at the San Jose Airport in Occidental Mindoro after making a bomb joke before boarding a flight to Manila on Monday, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap).

Caap reported that the senior citizen was at the final screening checkpoint around 7:15 a.m. when she joked about a “possible explosion” while placing her luggage on the X-ray machine.

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“Ate, baka may sumabog diyan (Miss, something might explode there),” the woman said, prompting the duty officer to call the security screening checkpoint authorities.

“To ensure there was no explosive material in her bag as mentioned, strict security measures were implemented,” Caap said in a statement.

The woman later clarified that her comment “was not meant to cause alarm.”

But Caap said the senior citizen was already taken to the airport’s police station for further investigation.

It added that the investigation into the incident has since been handed over to the Philippine National Police.