Passenger arrested after plane bomb hoax

A 19-year-old German passenger was arrested by Gardaí today after a bomb alert caused an American airliner to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport.

The Delta Airlines jet, with 147 passengers on board, was en route from Frankfurt, Germany, to Atlanta, Georgia when it was forced to divert after a note indicating a bomb was aboard was found in the toilet.

The passengers and crew disembarked at Shannon and Flight DL 27 was searched by garda officers before the alert was declared a hoax last night.

All those aboard the flight were questioned by detectives, who also took samples of hand writing and fingerprints in an attempt to trace the person responsible for writing the note.

A garda spokesman said a 19-year-old man had been arrested this afternoon under the terms of the Air Navigation and Transport Act.

The man has been detained at Shannon Garda station, where he can be detained for up to 12 hours, the spokesman added.

It is understood the bomb threat was written on a piece of paper found in the toilet of the plane two hours into the scheduled 10-hour flight which took off at 10am yesterday.

The aircraft was searched in a remote part of the Co Clare airport after landing and no other flights were affected.

All the passengers and crew spent last night near the airport before the flight was allowed to continue its journey at lunchtime today.