Passenger Vomits Bags Of White Powder

An Australia-bound Vietnam Airlines jet was forced to make an emergency landing about an hour after taking off from Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday, when a passenger became ill. It wasn't long before those onboard were able to figure out why.

The passenger, an Australian man of Vietnamese descent, vomited a nylon bag of white powder suspected to be heroin and caused the emergency return to Vietnam, according to Reuters.

Airline officials told the state-run Youth newspaper the plane had been in the air for an hour when the man fell ill.

After landing at Tan Son Nhat Airport, the man, identified as 35-year-old Nguyen Kant, proceeded to cough up two more bags of white powder. He was taken into custody then to the hospital... where doctors reportedly found 30 more red nylon bags in his stomach.

Airport officials said the Boeing 777 was able to resume the flight to Sydney early Sunday morning.

In recent years, there have been several Australians of Vietnamese descent that have been arrested for trafficking heroin to Australia from Vietnam, according to the news service. At least four of those were sentenced to death.

FMI: www.vietnamairlines.com