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Air Canada passenger’s warnings ignored

Nov. 9, 2010, Vancouver - A passenger on the Air Canada flight in which a young Asian man boarded disguised as an elderly man says she spotted the mask right away and tried to warn the air crew.


November 9, 2010  By The Canadian Press

Nuray Kurtur-Balas told CNN that she went to three different flight attendants with her suspicions about the passenger before the plane took off from Hong Kong, but nothing was done.

She said she thought the man was going to blow up the plane and that she kept her iPhone close to call her family if something happened.

Kurtur-Balas, a clothing retail production manager, contacted CNN after reading about the incident and provided a copy of her boarding pass to confirm she was on the flight.

She says she told the flight attendants the passenger's heavily wrinkled face appeared to be plastic and that it didn't match the man's smooth, young looking hands.

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She says one flight attendant complimented her on her observation, but did nothing and another suggested the man might have a medical condition.

The man later took off the mask during the Oct. 29 flight and was arrested when the plane landed in Vancouver.

The Chinese national remains in detention and is seeking asylum in Canada.

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