Ryanair bomb alert came in note tucked in magazine
A bomb alert on board a Ryanair flight today was given to the plane's captain in the form of a note in a magazine, Strathclyde Police Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said.
The flight was diverted to Glasgow Prestwick Airport after the captain alerted air traffic control about halfway through the Beauvais (Paris)- to-Dublin flight, he said. It is not known who gave it to the captain nor what language the alert was in.
Mr Neilson said all of the passengers would all be questioned before being released. He added that a search of the aircraft after it landed found no suspicious objects.
There were 71 schoolchildren aboard the flight and Mr Neilson said some of them were “quite distressed”.
He said: “As soon as they landed they were fine. There’s appropriate support from the health services for them.
“People are still being interviewed. I think we will know for sure what’s happened once everybody has been interviewed.”
John Rodwell, chief executive of Prestwick Airport, said four inbound flights had to be diverted during the two-hour closure of the runways. They were sent to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stansted airports.
Three passenger flights due to leave were also delayed.
The passengers on the Ryanair flight will be given an option of either leaving on the first flight tomorrow or waiting for the all-clear to be given for the aircraft they landed in.
That permission has to be given by the police, he said.
“Today we followed our normal procedure to ensure the welfare of the passengers,” he added.
