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Passangers stand in line to board their flights with thier luggage.
The South African Cabin Crew Association has demanded accountability from Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), following a serious security breach at OR Tambo International Airport in which a passenger boarded a flight to Ethiopia with two training hand grenades in their checked luggage.
The breach was only discovered upon the passenger’s arrival at Bole International Airport in Ethiopia. ACSA has subsequently terminated its contract with Aviation Coordination Services (ACS).
ACSA says the breach occurred in the Hold Baggage Screening area managed by ACS. The President of the SA Cabin Crew Association, Advocate Christopher Shabangu says someone needs to be held accountable.
“You can’t carry items that might cause an explosion now, imagine if it’s a grenade, I can tell you now it was not allowed to be in the aircraft. It was a serious breach, it’s something we need to investigate properly and people need to be held accountable because we could be talking about something different with lives lost. We understand that Civil Aviation Authority have already posed a fine of R2million to ACSA, which I think is correct. ACSA has to take responsibility. They must deal with this and investigate it properly. Why did they allow this grenade in, and did they even see it through their scanners?”
