JAKARTA, April 26 — The Australian passenger, who caused a hijack scare on a Virgin Australia flight to Denpasar, Bali on Friday, has denied he was drunk and is claiming he knocked on the cockpit door thinking it was the toilet.
Bali police spokesman Hery Wiyanto said Matt Christopher Lockley, 28, claimed that he dad been under stress as he was looking for his wife, who was from Bandung (Indonesia).
“Apparently he lost all contact with his wife for two weeks and this had stressed him out,” Hery was quoted by the Antara news agency on Saturday.
Hery said Matt told police that he had only taken four Panadol and two Voltaren pills and drunk two Coca-Colas before boarding flight VA41 to Bali.
He added that police were still waiting for the man’s blood test results and the man had been moved to the Trijata Hospital in Denpasar due to his unstable condition.
An initial report by local television channel Metro TV yesterday had confirmed that the Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 137 passengers and seven crew had been hijacked.
But Heru Sudjatmiko, a Virgin Australia official at the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar later said the man was in a drunken state and had not intended to hijack the plane.
— BERNAMA
