Vietnam airports tighten security following MH370 disappearance

The management of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City has tightened control over aviation security by adding explosive detectors, increasing security staff, and randomly checking certain luggage or goods after they have been scanned. 

The measures have been taken following a Ministry of Transport requirement since Saturday when a Malaysia Airlines jetliner suddenly disappeared from radar screens with 239 people on board, two of whom have been found using stolen passports.

Security have been strengthened for both domestic and international flights departing from the airport, Do Xuan Toan, Tan Son Nhat director, was quoted by the official Vietnam News Agency as saying. 

These security measures are now at the first level of a three-level security alert system, Toan said.

The airport’s security force is coordinating with the police of Tan Binh District, where Tan Son Nhat is located, in patrolling and checking all over the facility, especially its terminal for international passengers.

In addition to strictly examining passengers and their luggage, the airport’s security staff may question them about the origin of the objects they carry.

As for luggage or goods, security officers will make random and direct checks on ten percent of them after they have been scanned.

More specialized equipment and facilities for security inspections, including those for the detection of explosives, have been provided to the security force at the airport.

Security staff numbers have been hiked by 40 percent to ensure no flights are delayed and no inconvenience is caused to passengers while the new measures are in place, the directors said. 

Passengers will, however, be required to arrive at the airport sooner than now for examinations, to be made in isolated areas some in cases, when security alert is lifted up to the second level, Toan added.

Like Tan Son Nhat, the operator of Noi Bai International Airport in the capital, Hanoi, has also strengthened security in a similar manner.

As reported previously, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic controllers early Saturday when it was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Two of the passengers have been discovered using the passports of an Austrian and an Italian, media reports said, citing Austrian and Italian foreign ministries.

Up to ten countries, including Vietnam, have been joining a comprehensive search for the jetliner, but no signs of the plane have been spotted so far.