By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 21 Dec 2015 • 14:05
Air France 777-300 ER
KENYAN police spokesman Inspector General Joseph Boinnet issued information in a tweet that Air France Boeing 777 AF463 had left Mauritius on the evening of December 19 en route for Paris, when a passenger noticed a suspicious item in one of the toilets, which looked as if it might have been a bomb.
Having been alerted to this potential threat, the pilot requested permission to make an unscheduled and emergency landing at Moi international airport in Mombasa which was granted, and all 459 passengers and 14 crew were escorted safely from the aircraft via escape chutes.
Bomb experts from the Kenyan navy and directorate of criminal investigation boarded the aircraft and removed the suspect item for checking.
Air France chief executive, Frédéric Gagey, told a press conference: “All the information available to us at the moment indicates that the object was not capable of creating an explosion or damaging a plane, but was rather a mixture of cardboard, sheets of paper and a timer, It was a false alarm.”
It now appears that one of the passengers on the flight has been detained by Kenyan authorities, presumably suspected of planting the fake bomb.
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.