A Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) plane carrying 72 people from London to Stockholm was diverted to Gothenburg on Friday after a bomb threat and passengers were evacuated, police said.
“The 72 people on board the plane, including the crew, have been evacuated. The evacuation is completed,” police spokesman Stefan Gustafsson told AFP.
The plane was parked at a remote area of the Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, on Sweden’s west coast, and a bomb squad was called to search the aircraft.
“The bomb technicians have arrived and are preparing to search the plane,” Gustafsson.
He said the bomb threat was called in to air traffic controllers while the plane was in the air.
The flight landed at Landvetter around 10:00 am.
All air traffic to and from the airport was initially interrupted because of the bomb scare, but departing flights were later resumed, a spokeswoman for Landvetter said.
Arriving flights will be blocked as long as the police operation is underway, she said.
Landvetter is Sweden’s second-biggest airport, registering around six million passengers in 2015.
The Telegraph
The SAS aircraft, which was carrying 72 passengers and five crew, was on its way from London to Stockholm but was forced to make an emergency landing at west Sweden’s largest airport following a bomb scare on board flight SK1530.
The plane landed at just before 10am with emergency services called to the scene within 30 minutes.
All air traffic to and from the airport was initially stopped because of the bomb scare, but departures and arrivals had resumed by lunchtime.
However by 3pm police said that officers had thoroughly searched the plane and that no explosives had been found.
According to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), flight SK1530 landed without problems and the captain held a debriefing session for passengers together with police and the rest of the crew.
“It’s so that they will get as much information as possible and have their questions answered so that they can feel safe,” said SAS spokesperson Cathrine Sandegren, just ahead of the meeting.
Police spent several hours searching the flight for potential explosives and said that some passengers had been questioned.
“An investigation has been launched to possibly identify a suspect,” Ulla Brehm, a spokesperson for the regional Västra Götaland police force told the TT news agency on Fridat afternoon.
British racing driver Tom Onslow-Cole was one of the travellers on the flight. He tweeted: “We are all safe and off the plane, big shout out to the pilot and crew for keeping their cool!”
However as he and fellow passengers were kept waiting while their luggage was examined by police, he then posted that he had been given a 100 kronor ($12) meal voucher by SAS, with a rather direct one-word reason for the compensation printed on it – “bomb”.
Meanwhile Swedavia said it was working hard to look after other passengers whose flights were delayed as a result of the airport’s temporary closure.
“It is clear that there are a number of affected flights and there will be delays in air traffic for some time now during the day, before we catch up again,” spokesperson Ulf Wallin at Swedavia told TT just before 2pm.
Landvetter is Sweden’s second-biggest airport, registering around six million passengers in 2015.
The Local SE