July 27, 2004
The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia — A United Airlines flight from Australia to Los Angeles returned to Sydney International Airport on Tuesday after staff on board found a note carrying a bomb threat, Australia's transport minister said.
UA Flight 840, carrying 246 passengers, turned around "when an object which raised some security suspicions was found on board," the company said in a brief statement.
"As a precaution, the captain immediately returned to Sydney landing without incident at 5:50 p.m. (3:50 a.m. EDT). Further investigations will be carried out," United Airlines said.
Australia's Transport Minister John Anderson said he was "pretty sure it was a hoax."
The emergency came just days after a purported al-Qaida affiliate in Europe, the Tawhid Islamic Group, 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.
Anderson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio the "object" discovered was a note carrying a bomb threat. He said an investigation would immediately be launched.
Australian media reported the note was written on an air sickness bag found in or near one of the aircraft's toilets.
Anderson said the note carried "some words that implied that there might have been a bomb on board." He said he had not heard of any other threat directed at the flight.
Even so, flights in and out of Sydney, Australia's busiest airport, were briefly halted or diverted during what the government treated as a full-scale emergency, Anderson said.
"The first point to make is everyone is safe and flights in Australia are now resuming," he added.
He said the plane was being searched but no bomb was immediately found. Later he told ABC television he was "pretty sure it was a hoax."
There were no immediate reports of anybody on the flight being arrested. After landing, the Boeing 747 was parked at a remote spot at the airport and passengers were bused back to the terminal.
The plane, which took off at about 1 a.m. EDT was 90 minutes into the flight when the pilot made the decision to return to Sydney, the airline statement said.
The flight was reportedly rescheduled to fly to Los Angeles late Wednesday morning.
After hearing about the emergency on the radio, Elaine Sander rushed back to the airport to meet her 18-year-old American niece Alissa Hornyak, who had been returning home after a two-week holiday in Australia.
"We haven't heard anything from the airline and we are just waiting as you are," she said. "We are just hoping for the best."
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040727_208.html