The story appears on

Page A10

July 12, 2010

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » World

Plane lands safely after Rio bomb threat

AN Air France passenger jet headed from Rio de Janeiro to Paris made an emergency landing in northeastern Brazil due to a bomb threat.

All 405 passengers and 18 crew members were safely evacuated from Air France Flight 443 on Saturday night, said Jorge Andrade, a spokesman for airport authority Infraero.

A spokesman for Air France in Brazil said the bomb threat was phoned in to Rio's international airport by a female voice about 30 minutes after the plane took off.

The control tower contacted the jet and the decision was made to land in Recife, the Air France spokesman said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

In Paris, Air France spokesman Jerome N'Guyen said a full inspection of the plane had been completed and nothing suspicious had been found.

The plane could not take off immediately because of regulations on rest time for flight personnel, but was scheduled to depart Recife yesterday evening and expected to reach Paris this morning, he added.

Infraero said in a statement that after landing in Recife, the jet taxied to a secluded area of the airport and those on board were quickly removed. The airport was closed for about 30 minutes, and then reopened.

Flight 443 was on the same route as an Air France jet that crashed last June off Brazil's northeastern coast, killing all 228 on board.

While no definite cause has been determined in the crash, authorities have repeatedly ruled out foul play.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend