AirAsia
Indonesia said Thursday it had suspended a pilot after he failed a random drugs
test, days after 162 people were killed when one of the airline’s planes
crashed into the sea off the island of Borneo.
“I would
like to clarify that one of our pilots in a random preliminary drug test was
found to be positive,” airline president director Sunu Widyatmoko said,
responding to media reports that the pilot tested positive for morphine after
flying from Jakarta to Bali.
“As a
consequence, the pilot cannot fly pending further investigation,” he said,
stressing it was an initial result and more detailed tests would be carried
out.
“The
preliminary result from our interview with the pilot was that he had just come
out of the hospital,” he said.
“He is
still consuming Actifed. In that drug test, the cough and flu medication could
create a false alarm,” he said.
The pilot
was a senior captain who had worked for the airline for nine years and had a
clean track record.
“We will
conduct further tests but we are hoping that the further tests will be
negative,” Widyatmoko said.
A
transport ministry official confirmed that an AirAsia pilot had tested positive
for morphine on Thursday in Bali.
“The test
involved 42 airline crew members from which 41 tested negative and one
positive,” transport ministry official Muzaffar Ismail told AFP, adding
that the AirAsia pilot would undergo another test Friday.
The news
comes after AirAsia suffered its first fatal accident when Flight SQ8501
crashed on Sunday en route to Singapore.
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