Bomb Threat Diverts Ireland Bound Plane To Scotland

Bomb Threat Diverts Plane To Scotland
AP

Fighter jets escorted a passenger plane carrying 172 people to an airport in Scotland on Wednesday after its crew discovered a note saying there was a bomb on board, and the plane landed safely, authorities said.

Ryanair Flight FR25, a Boeing 737 en route from Paris to Dublin, Ireland, was escorted to Glasgow's Prestwick Airport, which was briefly closed while officials searched for explosives.

It was not immediately clear if any explosives were found.

All the passengers and crew were safely escorted off the plane and questioned, Ryanair said in a statement.

Flight FR25 was escorted to Prestwick by three Royal Air Force jets, one of which was already in the air for a training exercise. Two others were dispatched, the Defense Ministry said.

The note was found under a seat, prompting the Ryanair pilot to alert aviation authorities, said Florence Legrin, a spokeswoman for France's civil aviation authority.

Ryanair bomb alert came in note tucked in magazine
Ireland Online

A bomb alert on board a Ryanair flight today was given to the plane's captain in the form of a note in a magazine, Strathclyde Police Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said.

The flight was diverted to Glasgow Prestwick Airport after the captain alerted air traffic control about halfway through the Beauvais (Paris)- to-Dublin flight, he said. It is not known who gave it to the captain nor what language the alert was in.

Mr Neilson said all of the passengers would all be questioned before being released. He added that a search of the aircraft after it landed found no suspicious objects.

There were 71 schoolchildren aboard the flight and Mr Neilson said some of them were “quite distressed”. [Partridge: My guess - schoolkid prank gone awry]

He said: “As soon as they landed they were fine. There’s appropriate support from the health services for them.

“People are still being interviewed. I think we will know for sure what’s happened once everybody has been interviewed.”

John Rodwell, chief executive of Prestwick Airport, said four inbound flights had to be diverted during the two-hour closure of the runways. They were sent to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stansted airports.

Three passenger flights due to leave were also delayed.

The passengers on the Ryanair flight will be given an option of either leaving on the first flight tomorrow or waiting for the all-clear to be given for the aircraft they landed in.

That permission has to be given by the police, he said.

“Today we followed our normal procedure to ensure the welfare of the passengers,” he added.