Air France Flight Diverted After Explosive Threat

Published : July 12, 2010 :: 12:07:17 [ 1,398 views ]

An Air France flight bound for Paris has been diverted to Recife on Saturday. The flight, carrying over 400 passengers, landed in Recife amidst fears that an explosive device was onboard the flight.

Brazil, the 11^th of July 2010: En-route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, Air France flight 443, with 405 passengers and crew, was diverted to the Recife airport following a revelation that the flight may have an explosive device onboard.

At present, it is unknown what the nature of the threat was, with Air France stating that the plane had landed at approximately 8:00pm on Saturday with all passengers reportedly unharmed. Upon arrival in Recife, all passengers were asked to disembark the flight whilst investigators searched the aircraft, including both cabin and checked luggage.

Osman Tosun, travelling on the flight with his wife and two children, explained that the plane did a u-turn approximately 3.5 hours into the flight without any explanation given by the captain or crew.

“We did a U-turn to land,” he said, adding that it took about 30 minutes to land. He noted that the crew and other passengers were “surprisingly calm. I didn’t think of a bomb threat …maybe mechanically impaired,” he said. “All sorts of things rush through your mind, but you’re also pretty helpless.”

No indication has been given by the airline or investigating authorities as to whether anything was found relating to the threat, although the flight has now been rescheduled to leave Recife at 8:00pm on Sunday arriving at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris at 9:00am Monday morning.

The bomb threat comes more than a year after another Air France flight travelling the same route crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 228 people.