Sunday, March 16, 2008

HEATHROW DRAMA AS MAN RUNS ONTO RUNWAY

There was drama at Heathrow Airport this week when a man carrying a rucksack sprinted onto one of the airport’s busy runways within yards of a packed Emirates passenger jet. He is thought to have scaled a perimeter fence. The incident happened the day before the Queen was due to open the airport’s new Terminal 5. Police were on the scene within minutes arresting the man and detonating his bag in a controlled explosion, although no explosives were found. Onlookers described how they saw the man running towards an aircraft and then dropping his bag, before being restrained by police.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was happy that everything was now being done to ensure that security at Heathrow is intact. This was a major security breech at the UK’s largest and busiest airport and just goes how easy it would be for a terrorist to get onto a runway and in the path of planes. If this man had been a terrorist and had been carrying a bomb, the consequences don’t bear thinking about. This incident could have caused mass destruction and loss of life on a wide scale. Questions definitely need to be asked as to how this happened and security needs to be tightened. Suggestions have been made to bring in the military to patrol Heathrow’s perimeter fence. Measures definitely need to be put in place to stop anything like this happening again. The British public demand nothing less.

4 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

It's unfortunate such things happen and cause us to doubt our security or take measures that make life so difficult. I am glad this had a good ending.

Naomi said...

Me too Sandy.

Anonymous said...

Naomi- I just stumbled onto your site via Windows To Russia. Great post! I haven't heard this story in the US media, surprise ... surprise. Have they determined what the man was trying to do?

Naomi said...

Glad you enjoyed the post Barrett. Yes I'm a frequent visitor to Windows to Russia. Kyle and Svet are good cyberfriends of mine. No apparently the man has appeared in court but as he doesn't speak good English, they still don't know why he was there. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed your visit here.