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NY bound plane diverted to Ireland after bomb threat
Dublin, Apr 04: A United Airlines flight from London to New York city was diverted to Ireland after a crew member found a note on a napkin claiming there was a bomb on board, officials and passengers said.
Dublin, Apr 04: A United Airlines flight from London to New York city was diverted to Ireland after a crew member found a note on a napkin claiming there was a bomb on board, officials and passengers said.
The Boeing 777 landed safely at Shannon Airport in southwestern Ireland, where police escorted the 180 passengers and 17 crew members off the plane. A planned search of the plane and its luggage was postponed until daybreak today.
"I could feel the plane descending all of a sudden, then the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said, `there's a threat to the plane,' that's really all they told us," said passenger Peter Byck at a local hotel where most people from the flight were staying overnight. "The cabin crew walked us through all the procedures for emergency action. It was all very tense," said Byck, 40, of San Rafael, California. "First they told us we'd have to go out sliding down the emergency chutes, but then they said we could take stairs that's when I knew maybe it wasn't that urgent."
He said the threatening note had been written on somebody's napkin and discovered when they opened it to eat a meal. Whoever was responsible was "kind of stupid," he said, "but I'm just happy to be alive." Jim Molloy, a spokesman for Ireland's national police force, the Garda Siochana, said everyone aboard the passenger jet had been escorted "to a secure area, and obviously they were all searched, but nothing suspicious was found."
Bureau Report
"I could feel the plane descending all of a sudden, then the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said, `there's a threat to the plane,' that's really all they told us," said passenger Peter Byck at a local hotel where most people from the flight were staying overnight. "The cabin crew walked us through all the procedures for emergency action. It was all very tense," said Byck, 40, of San Rafael, California. "First they told us we'd have to go out sliding down the emergency chutes, but then they said we could take stairs that's when I knew maybe it wasn't that urgent."
He said the threatening note had been written on somebody's napkin and discovered when they opened it to eat a meal. Whoever was responsible was "kind of stupid," he said, "but I'm just happy to be alive." Jim Molloy, a spokesman for Ireland's national police force, the Garda Siochana, said everyone aboard the passenger jet had been escorted "to a secure area, and obviously they were all searched, but nothing suspicious was found."
Bureau Report