A crew of China Southern Airlines has been awarded 400,000 yuan (US$56,738) for their successful prevention of a terrorist attack on a plane flying from Urumqi to Beijing early this month, Beijing News reported today.

The carrier held a ceremony last Wednesday to give awards to the crew of flight CZ6901 who found gasoline a woman passenger brought on board as part of the terrorist attack on March 7, the report said.

A flight attendant detected the scent of gasoline during the flight and traced it to a Uygur woman aged about 18, according to previous reports.

The attendant questioned the woman, who became agitated. Crew members soon had the woman under control.

Another accomplice was caught trying to ignite fuel inside the plane's bathroom.

The plane made an emergency landing at Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, because "some people were trying to create an air disaster," Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in a previous interview.

The plane arrived in Beijing on the morning of March 8 and all passengers and crew were safe.

An initial inquiry found there are "serious loopholes" in the security systems and the work of staff at Xinjiang airport, making it possible for the two suspects to bring fuel onto the plane.

Some secessionists in Xinjiang planned to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games in August, according to Wang Lequan, Party chief of Xinjiang.

Chinese airports and airlines stepped up security and banned passengers carrying any liquids on domestic flights soon after the incident. Airport security staff now check every item of hand baggage to ensure nothing dangerous can be taken aboard.

(Shanghai Daily March 26, 2008)