Threat Forces Emergency Landing of JFK-bound Flight

A bomb threat that mentioned Iraq forced a New York-bound Greek airliner to make an emergency landing yesterday at London’s Stansted Airport, escorted by military jets, authorities said.An airport spokeswoman said an Athens newspaper had received a phone call saying there was a bomb on board the Olympic Airlines plane.“Flight 411 Olympic for America has a bomb for Iraq,” a caller to the Ethnos daily said, according to a tape the newspaper made available to journalists. In a second call, a voice that sounded like a different person said, “Are you listening? Flight 411 Olympic for America, bomb. America will see. Six o’clock message for you.”Authorities immediately notified the pilot of the call, and he asked for a military escort.Britain’s Royal Air Force scrambled planes to assist the Airbus A340 airliner, the Ministry of Defense said. The plane, headed from Athens to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, landed safely at Stansted, north of London, at 3:30 p.m., an airport spokeswoman said.Olympic said in a statement that it learned of the threat about two hours earlier and notified the pilot immediately.Chief executive Leonard Vlamis said the passengers had remained calm.“There was no problem inside the flight, everything was normal,” he said.He emphasized that strict security measures had been observed at Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos airport.The Stansted spokeswoman said the plane, with 301 passengers and crew on board, landed in “full emergency” status and was safely evacuated.One passenger, New York firefighter Robert Santandrea, 33, said the emergency landing brought back memories of September 11, 2001, when he responded to the collapsed World Trade Center towers.“I was praying. I was a little nervous, but everyone was very calm” as the plane changed course to land at Stansted, he said.[New York artist Skye Ferranti, 31, said armed police boarded the plane after it touched down, the BBC reported.“It was very calm on the plane. Everyone seemed to stay calm until we landed and then the atmosphere changed, Mr. Ferranti said. “British security men armed with machine guns came on board and told everyone to leave their bags and get off as quickly as possible.”Mr. Ferranti said passengers left their bags on the tarmac and the plane and ran outside toward vehicles awaiting them, according to the BBC.]Essex police said teams were removing all baggage from the plane for searching.Assistant Chief Constable Liam Brigginshaw declined yesterday evening to say how long that might take, but the airport’s duty manager, Jim Westcott, said the passengers would be taken to a hotel, which suggested they might stay overnight.

Threat Forces Emergency Landing of JFK-bound Flight

Threat Forces Emergency Landing of JFK-bound Flight

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