Two fighter jets were scrambled on Saturday to escort a Cathay Pacific airplane into Vancouver airport following a bomb threat, police said, in the latest such scare to hit North America.
The threat turned out to be a false alarm, after a dramatic few hours for Flight 839 at the end of a long-haul journey reportedly from Kuala Lumpur, via Hong Kong, with almost 300 people on board.
A bomb threat on board the plane had been called into Richmond, the British Columbia detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at 10:43am, a police spokeswoman said.
Two CF-18 Hornet fighter jets were scrambled by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to intercept the Cathay Pacific flight, NORAD spokeswoman Holly Apostoliuk said.
The order came “after information was received about a potential threat associated with the aircraft,” she said.
“As a precaution, NORAD fighters escorted the aircraft until it landed safely in Vancouver at about 1:40pm,” she said.
The aircraft remained on the tarmac and passengers were taken off the flight. Their luggage was left behind, public broadcaster CBC said.
“All necessary screening procedures were conducted,” Corporal Sherrdean Turley said. “And there was no threat aboard the aircraft. There was nothing of any concern on the plane, but when a bomb threat is received, we take that very seriously and our investigation will be continuing.”
Passengers spoke of their fright on seeing fighter jets appear in the sky outside the plane.
“I was scared,” one passenger told broadcaster CTV about the moment he noticed fighter jets outside his window. “It was flying very near to our plane.”
“Everyone was quite surprised and taking pictures,” another passenger, Jing Vance, told the Vancouver Sun. “I was waving to him [the fighter jet pilot],” his daughter Candace said.
“All of the passengers were safely deplaned,” Sherrdean said.
“I’d just like to reassure the traveling public that there is no threat to them at this time,” she said.
“The interception was done in accordance with all safety procedures,” another NORAD spokesman, Gary Ross, said.
After disembarking, security officials surrounded the baggage carousel, Jing said.
“We all had to step back. They were very serious,” he said.
CTV said there were 283 passengers and 14 crew members on board the flight that reportedly originated in Kuala Lumpur and made a stop in Hong Kong.
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