Saudia plane crew mistakenly hit hijack alert button in Manila scare

A pilot of a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane mistakenly pressed a hijack warning button as it approached Manila's airport Tuesday, causing airport officials to mobilise commando forces and isolate the jet after it landed, Philippine officials said. Flight SV872 from Jiddah made the distress call about 20 miles from the airport. Airport authorities asked for a verification of the emergency message and one of the pilots confirmed the distress call verbally with the airport tower, aviation security chief Mao Aplasca said. He said the pilot did not immediately say the emergency call was a mistake. The pilot did not tell the control tower that the button had been pushed accidentally until the plane was parked, Aplasca said. Despite the assurance, airport authorities continued to treat the incident as a crisis. <br/>