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Cathay plane escorted to Vancouver after bomb threat

16 May 2010 04:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Cathay Pacific airliner from Hong Kong was escorted by military fighter jets to its destination in Vancouver, Canada, after a bomb threat, media reports said on Saturday, APA reports quoting Reuters.
They said two CF-18 Hornets were scrambled from a military base on nearby Vancouver Island to escort the Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK) plane in response to the threat.
CBC quoted unnamed Canadian Defense Department officials as saying the plane had been escorted after a bomb threat.
A Canadian police official told reporters that the threat was being taken seriously but that authorities had found nothing dangerous on the plane and there was no threat to travelers.
CNN said the plane was directed to a restricted area at the Vancouver airport.
"They told us there was some sort of terrorist problem and the baggage would be held up," an unidentified male passenger told Canada’s CTV News after disembarking the flight.
When asked if he was aware that the flight had been escorted by military jets into Vancouver, another male passenger said: "No, no idea. That’s news to me."