Air France bomb threat

AN Air France passenger jet heading from Rio de Janeiro to Paris made an emergency landing in north-eastern Brazil, following a bomb threat.

All 405 passengers and 18 crew members were safely evacuated from Flight 443, said Jorge Andrade, a spokesman for airport authority Infraero.

A spokesman for Air France in Brazil said the bomb threat was phoned in to Rio’s international airport by a female voice about 30 minutes after the plane took off.

No explosives were found after a five-hour search. Flight 443 was on the same route as an Air France jet that crashed last June off Brazil’s coast, killing all 228 on board.

While no cause has been determined in the crash, authorities have repeatedly ruled out foul play.