7 Sep 2011

Pakistan plane lands in Turkey after bomb ‘hoax’

A Pakistan International Airlines spokesman told journalists a “hoax” forced an unscheduled landing in Istanbul, after a passenger on board was thought to be carrying a bomb.

The flight from Lahore to Manchester in Britain was diverted to Istanbul after the airline received an anonymous email saying there was a bomb aboard flight 709.

PIA’s Mansoor Mela told the media that after the plane was cleared the passengers and their baggage were screened and no bomb was found on board.

Television footage from Turkey’s private Dogan news agency showed the PIA Boeing plane on the tarmac at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

Passengers had been given permission to get off the aircraft and were bussed to the terminal building, while fire engines and ambulances were parked near the plane. Turkey’s state news agency said that there were 378 passengers on board.

It later emerged that a second PIA plane had been grounded in Kuala Lumpur after another email threat. An airline spokesman said that this plane had also been searched and subsequently given the all clear.