An airport in eastern Malaysia got a bomb threat Thursday, causing the delay of an AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur for six hours, but it turned out to be a hoax.

The Kuching International Airport in Sarawak state received a telephone call from a man at 8:40 a.m. local time (0040 GMT), claiming there was an explosive liquid on board an aircraft bound for Kuala Lumpur.

Emergency operation procedures were then activated by Malaysia Airport, the police, Fire and Rescue Department and Department of Civil Aviation, according to reports of the Bernama news agency.

There were two scheduled flights to the capital city Thursday morning, namely, one of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and the other of AirAsia.

The MAS MH2713 flight was checked and took off at 9.05 a.m.( 0105 GMT) as scheduled.

However, the AirAsia plane was towed 100 meters from the terminal building and underwent a comprehensive inspection after the passengers had disembarked.

Source: Xinhua