A Lufthansa bomb scare diverted a flight to JFK airport after a bomb threat was reportedly called in late Monday on the German airline's flight from Houston to Frankfurt.
One passenger told Reuters that two to three hours into the flight, the pilot made an announcement that the rest of the flight was being canceled and diverted to New York because of a bomb threat.
The plane was then taken to a remote area at JFK before Port Authority officers reported to the scene and the NYPD bomb squad and Port Authority K-9 unit searched the plane, WABC-TV noted.
The threat was called in to Lufthansa's corporate headquarters, with the caller saying there was a bomb aboard Flight #441, the station reported.
When the plane arrived at JFK Monday night, the some 530 passengers were safely evacuated and the search began. However, there was no sign of any explosive device on the plane.
Joerg Waber, a spokesman for Lufthansa Airlines, neither confirmed nor denied that a threat was made, according to Reuters.
According to WABC-TV, Lufthansa released a statement late Monday night saying, “The flight LH441 from Houston, Texas to Frankfurt was diverted to JFK as a matter of precaution and in coordination with the relevant authorities and the pilot. The flight landed safely in New York City at 8:34 pm EST. The passengers disembarked the aircraft and were shuttled to the terminal. LH staff will take care of the passengers. The aircraft will be searched since the safety and security of our passengers, crew and aircraft are always our highest priority.”
Tuesday morning, Lufthansa tweeted that it would be putting the flight’s passengers in hotels and booking them for other Germany-bound flights, WABC-TV noted.
The plane will be flown back to Germany without passengers aboard, according to Reuters.
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