Bomb scare plane lands safely after checks

A PLANE landed safely at Dublin Airport yesterday having been diverted to a French airport after a bomb scare.

The chartered Boeing 737 carrying more than 140 passengers was diverted to Lyon in the south of France after stewards apparently discovered a note with the words “Bomb 11 September” on it.

French authorities removed one Irish couple from the Icelandic Air jet chartered by tour operator Topflight for questioning. The rest of the passengers were then asked to assemble in the terminal.

One passenger, Paddy Carroll from Carlow, said the man and his wife, who were sitting close to him, left the plane without fuss.

He said the couple did not come back on to the plane when it resumed its journey. The couple were released without charge and were expected to return to Ireland late last night.

Security staff at the French airport removed all the holidaymakers to the terminal, where they were questioned, while bomb experts spent four hours checking the plane and luggage.

Authorities allowed the plane, which had taken off from the Italian city of Naples after midday Sunday, to continue to Dublin after nothing further was found.

The passengers disembarked safely at 1am yesterday.

Mr Carroll said the first strange activity they noticed was the crew were moving around very quickly, then the plane made a sudden landing 10 minutes later. He said the passengers were just told to fasten their seatbelts and were not given a reason for the quick landing.

“The pilot then came on and told us there was a threat made against the airline. He said it was actually a bomb threat.

“He had been handed a note and his priority was to get the aircraft onto the ground,” Mr Carroll said.

“Security police came on and we were sitting in the exit rows. A gentleman sitting beside my wife was asked to stand up and he was asked where his wife was and they were asked to leave the aircraft. And we have never seen them since.

“They were taken away separately, then eventually we were all asked to leave,” Mr Carroll said.

He said they were escorted off by airport police.

A spokeswoman for Topflight said: “The staff of the plane found a note in the toilets saying there was a bomb on board.”

She said the plane was thoroughly checked in Lyon and was finally deemed safe to take off again last night.