Flight Aborted

A woman was killed and 62 passengers were wounded in a stampede Thursday following a bomb hoax aboard a Saudi Arabian Airlines jumbo jet which was about to take off from Sri Lanka's Colombo airport, officials said. A woman was killed and 62 passengers were wounded in a stampede Thursday following a bomb hoax aboard a Saudi Arabian Airlines jumbo jet which was about to take off from Sri Lanka's Colombo airport, officials said. Six people, including four women, were taken to the nearby Negombo Base hospital where one of the women, a Sri Lankan national, died from her injuries, a hospital spokesman said.

"One woman died after admission to the hospital," the spokesman said.

The Jeddah-bound Boeing 747-300 aircraft, with more than 400 passengers, was not scheduled to take off after the incident Thursday and the airline said it was making arrangements to send passengers to nearby hotels.

Airport chief Tiran Alles said 18 more people were taken to another hospital in the capital Colombo, 35 kilometres (21 miles) to the south, while others had minor injuries which did not require hospitalisation.

"A call had come to the airport switchboard warning of a bomb," Alles told AFP. "The control towe