The exact circumstances surrounding Monday’s incident aboard a Lion Air aircraft in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, in which a passenger allegedly made a remark about a bomb that led to fellow passengers opening emergency exit doors and leaping from the plane, remain unclear.

Nonetheless, the West Kalimantan Police have decided to prosecute the passenger, identified as 26-year-old Papuan Frantinus Nirigi, who had just graduated from Tanjungpura University in Pontianak.

West Kalimantan Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Nanang Purnomo said Frantinus had been charged under Article 437 of Law No. 1/2009 on aviation, which carries a maximum punishment of eight years’ imprisonment.

“The suspect is now being detained at a Pontianak police station,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, adding that investigators from the Transportation Ministry would handle the case.

Frantinus could be the first person to be criminally charged with making a false claim about carrying a bomb on board an aircraft, aviation observer Alvin Lie said.

The incident in Pontianak also took place as the country was reeling from a wave terrorist attacks that left more than 20 people dead and dozens injured.

According to the police, Frantinus was on board flight number JT 687 bound for Jakarta on Monday evening when he told a flight attendant, who was attempting to put his backpack into the overhead compartment, that there was a bomb inside the backpack.

Frantinus was immediately ordered to leave the aircraft under the supervision of airport security while his carry-on luggage was checked. “No bomb was found and the airport was also declared safe,” Nanang said.

However, the incident caused panic among the other passengers. Some unidentified passengers opened the emergency exit, from which other passengers fled the aircraft onto the plane’s wings.

A viral video uploaded by Twitter user @kisbet_ shows passengers jumping off the plane’s wings to the ground, with at least 10 people injured.

“Ten people were injured, eight of them have been transferred to the Air Force Hospital,” West Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Didi Haryono said as reported by tribunpontianak.co.id.

But some parties have defended Frantinus, claiming that the flight attendant could have misheard what he was saying.

Frantinus had been awarded a scholarship by the Papua provincial administration and recently graduated from Tanjungpura University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, his lecturer, Pardi, said as reported by tempo.co.

Pardi suggested that Frantinus’ accent may have made it difficult for others to understand him. “He speaks fast. I often asked him to repeat what he said [in the classroom],” Pardi said.

Frantinus’ lawyer, Theo Kristoporus Kamayo, meanwhile, admitted that his client did say there was a bomb in his backpack, but he did not say it loudly and therefore could not have led to the chaotic scenes.

He added that Frantinus made the bomb remark because he was upset because the flight attendant, who he felt was being rude, shoved his bag pack containing three laptops roughly into the compartment.

Frantinus reportedly said: “be careful, don’t treat my bag recklessly, there’s a bomb inside.”

Theo said his client quickly apologized after the flight attendant reprimanded him.

However, he said the flight attendant then announced twice to the other passengers to abandon the aircraft because a passenger was reportedly carrying explosives. The announcements, according to Theo, were the actual cause of the panic aboard the aircraft, not Frantinus’ remark.

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