A United Airlines flight from Australia to Los Angeles returned to Sydney International airport late on Tuesday afternoon after staff on board found a note carrying a bomb threat, Australia’s transport minister said.
In a brief statement, the airline said UA Flight 840, carrying 246 passengers, turned around ”when an object which raised some security suspicions was found on board”.
”As a precaution, the captain immediately returned to Sydney, landing without incident at 5.50pm. Further investigations will be carried out,” United Airlines said.
Transport Minister John Anderson told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio the object was a note carrying a bomb threat. He said an investigation will immediately be launched.
Anderson said the note carried ”some words that implied that there might have been a bomb on board”.
He said the plane was being searched but no bomb was immediately found.
There were no immediate reports of anybody on the flight being arrested.
The aircraft, which took off at about 3pm local time, was 90 minutes into the flight when the pilot decided to return to Sydney, an airline spokesperson said.
Roads leading to the airport also reportedly were closed off during the emergency.
Over the weekend, a group claiming to be a European affiliate of al-Qaeda warned it would turn Australia into ”pools of blood” if Canberra doesn’t withdraw its troops from Iraq. Australian has nearly 900 military personnel in and around Iraq.
It was the second statement in a week by the Tawhid Islamic Group, a previously unknown group that last Wednesday threatened attacks in Bulgaria and Poland if their troops remain in the Arab country. — Sapa-AP