Two fighter jets were scrambled Saturday to escort a Cathay Pacific airplane into Vancouver airport following a bomb threat, police said, in the latest such scare to hit North America.
The threat turned out to be a false alarm, after a dramatic few hours for Flight 839 at the end of a long-haul journey reportedly from Kuala Lumpur, via Hong Kong, with almost 300 people on board.
A "bomb threat" onboard the plane had been called into Richmond, the British Columbia detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at 10:43 am (1743 GMT), a police spokeswoman said.
Two CF-18 Hornet fighter jets were scrambled by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to intercept the Cathay Pacific flight, NORAD spokeswoman Holly Apostoliuk told AFP.
The order came "after information was received about a potential threat associated with the aircraft," she said.
"As a precaution NORAD fighters escorted the aircraft until it landed safely in Vancouver at about 1:40 pm," she added.
The aircraft remained on the tarmac and passengers were taken off the flight. Their luggage was left behind, said public broadcaster CBC.
"All necessary screening procedures were conducted," said Corporal Sherrdean Turley. "And there was no threat aboard the aircraft."
"There was nothing of any concern on the plane, but when a bomb threat is received, we take that very seriously and our investigation will be continuing."
Jets give passengers a fright
Passengers spoke of their fright on seeing fighter jets appear in the sky outside the plane.
"I was scared," one passenger told broadcaster CTV about the moment he noticed fighter jets outside his window. "It was flying very near to our plane."
"Everyone was quite surprised and taking pictures," another passenger Jing Vance told the Vancouver Sun. "I was waving to him (the fighter jet pilot)," said his daughter Candace.
"All of the passengers were safely deplaned," Sherrdean said.
"I'd just like to reassure the traveling public that there is no threat to them at this time," she said.
Turley said federal police "had received information of a bomb threat on a Cathay Pacific flight."
"No one was injured," she added.
Gary Ross, another NORAD spokesman said "the interception was done in accordance with all safety procedures."
After disembarking, security officials surrounded the baggage carousel, Jing said. "We all had to step back. They were very serious."
North America on edge
CTV said there were 283 passengers and 14 crew members on board the flight that reportedly originated in Kuala Lumpur and made a stop in Hong Kong.
The flight triggered the latest in a series of scares amid jitters following several botched attacks using planes and other methods of transport on the United States.
A young Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane in an Al-Qaeda plot on December 25.
Abdulmutallab pleaded not guilty in January to six terrorism-related charges, including attempted murder of 290 people on board the plane and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction.
He faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted.
The son of a prominent Nigerian banker, Abdulmutallab allegedly had explosives stitched into his underwear, which failed to detonate aboard the Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The foiled bombing triggered global alarm, leading the United States to adopt stringent new screening and security measures at airports around the world, despite the already tight security adopted after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In 2001, Al-Qaeda militants plowed hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
Just months later, a British man, Richard Reid, tried to blow up a transatlantic jet in December 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Meanwhile on May 3 this year, US agents arrested a Pakistani-American man, Faisal Shahzad, for allegedly attempting to set off a car bomb in New York's busy Times Square. He faces five terror-related charges, but has yet to appear in court.
