A 23-year-old male Cathay Pacific intern was stabbed with a knife in the Cathay Pacific employee lounge at Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon. Fortunately, the injury was not serious. The intern today authorized the school teacher to explain the incident to the outside world, and emphasized that it was a random incident. The student and the suspect did not know each other, and they were not followed after a conflict at the counter. He hoped that the outside world would not make false assumptions.
A 44-year-old man surnamed Cai lost control in the Cathay Pacific employee lounge at Taoyuan International Airport's Terminal 1 yesterday afternoon. He lost control because he had not obtained a ticket to Hong Kong. He followed other employees into the lounge, held a fruit knife and scratched the hand of a 23-year-old Cathay Pacific male intern. After receiving the report, the aviation police arrived at the scene and took advantage of Cai Nan's unpreparedness to subdue him with pepper spray and an electric shock device, and rescued the intern. In the process, three aviation police officers were also slightly injured. After interrogating Mr. Cai this morning, the Criminal Police Brigade of the Aviation Police Bureau transferred him to the Taoyuan District Prosecutor's Office for investigation on suspicion of obstruction of freedom and injury. After the hearing, the prosecutor applied to the court for a detention ban.
The injured intern is currently studying in the Department of Aviation at Chaoyang University of Science and Technology. Lu Yanliang, director of the Department of Aviation at Chaoyang University of Science and Technology, said that the hijacking incident was a random crime. The student and the suspect did not know each other, and they were not followed after a conflict at the counter. Considering the traumatic stress that students may face, school representatives will provide clarification to the public with the authorization of parents; the relevant details of the case will be released by the police.
Regarding the incident, Lu Yanliang recounted that at the time of the incident, the intern had changed his clothes in the break room after his duty and was browsing messages on his mobile phone at the far end of the break room. The break room itself has access control facilities, but after the suspect used other employees to enter the break room, the door automatically closed for about 3 seconds and rushed in. This process only took a few seconds. After several colleagues in front quickly evaded, the suspect then used a knife to hold the intern at the innermost side of the break room hostage.
Lu Yanliang said that during the kidnapping, the intern behaved calmly and bravely. When the police were deployed outside the lounge, the suspect became more agitated and turned his attention to what was going on outside the door. Upon seeing this, the student took the initiative to grab the knife and scuffled with the suspect. At the same time, he called the police outside the door to come in for rescue. During the scuffle, his left hand was cut at the tiger's mouth, and there was a scratch about 20 centimeters long on the right side of his abdomen. Fortunately, the wound was very minor and had scabbed and healed when he was examined this morning.
Lu Yanliang emphasized that after the incident, the school immediately activated the emergency response mechanism. Two teachers immediately drove to Taoyuan to visit and accompanied them to prepare a transcript for the police. The department head contacted the parents first to complete the necessary notifications and then drove north to meet up. This morning, he held discussions with the students, parents and three Cathay Pacific representatives in Luzhu, Taoyuan.
Lu Yanliang said that students hope to return to online internships after their wounds heal. Cathay Pacific representatives said that they will fully assist in the application for public injury leave, and will appropriately adjust the lounge furnishings to avoid students’ psychological shadow when they return to work. The school will fully assist students in applying for various insurances, and will cooperate with Cathay Pacific for follow-up psychological consultation and counseling.
Lu Yanliang said that the intern was a transfer student from the Aviation Department of Chaoyang University of Science and Technology. He has performed well academically after transferring and is determined to develop into the field of aviation in the future. The internship mechanism of the Aviation Department is mainly to help students adapt to the workplace environment more quickly. The department will continue to provide necessary assistance and counseling to accompany students to calm down and return to normal life and study as soon as possible.
