HELSINKI, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A commercial flight from Malaga, Spain safely landed in Tamepere, Finland on Tuesday after a highjacking was suspected, Finnish police said.
The Airbus 320 with 149 passengers and six crew members on board landed soon after 6 pm local time (14:00 GMT) at the Tampere Pirkkala airport in central southern Finland. The aircraft was met with major police and emergency services units.
Police inspector Jari Kinunen, who was in charge of the operation at Pirkkala field, told Finnish national broadcaster Yle that there were already indications prior to landing that it could be a false alarm, but the preparations on the ground had to be done with a view to a real situation.
Passengers were allowed to leave the airport, but their identities were taken down for possible further need. The police would also talk to the crew to find out whether they had any role in the irregularity that affected the aircraft.
Finnish newspaper Aamulehti reported that the aircraft had sent a signal that is used to report a hijacking. The Small Planet Airlines informed on social networks later that radio communication failure might have caused the alarm.
It was reported that no announcements had been made about the situation during the flight, and the passengers only heard about the situation from Finnish police on the ground.
