Panic at Dhaka airport over woman boarding an aircraft without pass

A young woman managed to get on a US-Bangla flight at Dhaka's Shahjalal Airport on Tuesday night without the mandatory boarding pass issued to passengers after they check in.

The incident raises serious question about airport security in Dhaka.

The slip was detected when the passenger in a burqa (veil) was already on board the BS-109 flight and the aircraft had started taxiing on the runaway to take-off for Chittagong.

Passenger Pulak Barua said in his Facebook post: "The country has just escaped another disaster . I am also saved."

The flight was stopped and security personnel cordoned the aircraft. Passengers were asked to hold up their boarding passes.

When the woman failed to produce one, she was taken away but could be heard saying she had lost her ticket.

Panic gripped the airport as the news spread. The BS-109 was delayed by more than two hours.

Pulak Barua said in his Facebook post: "After murder of two foreigners, someone is planning to blow up a plane with passengers!"

Other passengers joined Barua to question how a passenger could have crossed several layers of security without a boarding pass.

The woman did not have luggage and nobody was accompanying her but to get into the boarding area, she would need her boarding pass stamped after the mandatory security check.

The discrepancy between the number of passengers on the aircraft and the number of boarding passes issued possibly alerted the US-Bangla officials and led to the huge scare.

Armed Police Battalion's Deputy Commissioner Nasrin Akhter told bdnews24.com that the woman was 'mentally deranged'.

She, however, did not name the passenger.