Praying for safety , old woman flips coins in plane s engine

Beijing June 27 (IANS) A woman has been placed under investigation in Shanghai city for flipping coins into an aircraft engine to pray for safety.

The suspect an 80-year-old passenger surnamed Qiu tossed coins into the engine while boarding flight CM380 operated by China Southern Airlines on Tuesday Xinhua news agency reported.

The plane was scheduled to fly from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Guangzhou capital of south China s Guangdong province at 12.40 p.m. but was delayed for more than five hours due to the incident.

Passengers on the plane alerted police when they saw Qiu flipping the coins. Police later found nine coins at the site including one in the engine.

According to airport police Qiu has been cleared of mental illness and has no criminal record. The airline company conducted a thorough investigation of the plane before it took off at 6.16 p.m.

--IANS
soni/vt