With their 11-year-old daughter in tow, a Chinese couple hijacked an airliner to Taiwan Tuesday, saying they needed shelter because Chinese authorities demolished their home, the government said.
The hijacking was the third this month and the 10th since April. Coupled with a report of a foiled hijacking earlier Tuesday, it underscored a rash of air piracy attempts that has bedeviled relations between the two sides.Taiwan state radio said the earlier hijacking got as far as Taiwanese air space before the crew overcame the assailants and turned the plane back.
The hijacking that reached Taiwan was the second this year involving a family.
The Chinese-made Yun-7 of Fujian Airlines, carrying 42 passengers and eight crew members, was seized on a domestic flight from Ganzhou to Xiamen.
A government statement said Luo Changhua, a Ganzhou trading company manager, brandished what he claimed were explosives while his wife, Wang Yuying, produced a note saying: "Go to Taiwan or we will blow up the plane."
The plane landed safely at Taipei International Airport and left for China about four hours later, minus the couple and daughter, authorities said.