Hong Kong airport officials are on high alert after receiving word of a possible bomb aboard a fight from mainland China, Reuters reported.
The bomb could be on either a Cathay Pacific or Dragonair flight that are expected to arrive from China in the next two days, the Hong Kong Airport Authority said Friday. The warning is connected to a woman who may be boarding one of those two flights on Friday or Saturday, Taiwanese security officials told local newspapers.
"We are aware of a threat message with reference to our flights from mainland China to Hong Kong as shared by Taiwan authorities," a spokesman for Cathay Pacific told Reuters in a statement.
"We will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities and have reminded our frontline teams to remain vigilant as usual," the statement continued.
All airport and flight operations were normal as of Friday, the Hong Kong Airport authority said.
It is not clear if the woman has any ties to separatist groups or militants that are suspected to have carried out a recent string of stabbing attacks and bombings in China, Reuters reported.
Six people were injured last month in a knife attack at a railway station in the southern Guangdong province. Another vicious stabbing in March at a railway station in Kunming city left 29 people dead.
The militants are said to be Muslims Uighurs, an ethnic minority group from the Xinjiang region. On Thursday, authorities in the region sentenced nine people to death for "violent terrorism." Another 81 people in the same region were recently sentenced for involvement in "terrorist organizations," Reuters reported.
China has been accused of sensationalizing the Uighur threat as an excuse to persecute them, according to the BBC.
The bomb threat also comes at a time of increased protests in Hong Kong against what they say is China's interference in the region, Reuters reported.
