Turkish Airlines plane diverted to Canada after bomb threat - just days after two Air France planes were threatened with being blown up
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 22 November, 2015, 9:59pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 22 November, 2015, 11:36pm
Agence France-Presse in Ottawa
A Turkish Airlines aircraft takes off from Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. File photo: AFP
A Turkish Airlines plane flying from New York to Istanbul was diverted to Canada Sunday because of a bomb threat, police said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the plane, with 256 passengers and crew, landed safely at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
“RCMP is looking to establish the origin of the threat and identify the person or persons responsible,” it said on Twitter.
Officials said they would provide no details on the bomb threat.
“This will form part of the investigation,” the RCMP’s Nova Scotia branch said.
Authorities received the bomb threat late Saturday after the plane had departed New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The bomb threat comes with aviation officials on high alert for possible acts of terror, following the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.
The latest threat follows incidents last Tuesday, when two Air France planes flying from the US to Paris were diverted because of similar bomb scares. Those planes were forced to land in Halifax and in Salt Lake City, Utah, but officials said no explosives were found on either flight.
Law enforcement officials in the United States and Canada are investigating both incidents, authorities said.
