Hijacking threat grounds Gulf Air at Larnaca

A GULF Air plane was stopped minutes before take off at Larnaca airport yesterday after an anonymous caller warned that hijackers were on board.

The call proved to be a hoax and three and a half hours later, the plane took off with all passengers on board.

At 3.07pm, an international call was made to Gulf Air offices in Nicosia warning that hijackers were on board the Gulf Air flight to Bahrain GF942 due to take off at 3.20pm. An airline employee immediately informed Lykavitos police station and the Gulf Air official situated at the airport. Within minutes the Control Tower was informed, which contacted the plane’s crew ordering it to abort take off.

At the time, the plane was taxiing towards the runway in preparation for take off. Instead the plane was guided to a safe area at the north eastern point of the airport, while the 52 passengers on board were taken off the aircraft for further security checks.

The passengers, their hand luggage and suitcases were all put through a security screening process for a second time, while police sniffer dogs and the bomb squad checked the plane for explosives.

According to the head of security at Larnaca and Paphos airports, police officer Emilios Lambrou, the airport’s Security Committee convened immediately, headed by the Civil Aviation director.

“The threat level was raised to its highest, red, and the decision was taken to put the passengers and their luggage off the plane,” said Lambrou.

Nothing suspicious was found during the security checks and the plane departed for Bahrain with all passengers on board at 7pm yesterday.

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