False bomb threat: EgyptAir MS955 in emergency landing
All 118 passengers and 17 crew evacuated from aircraft in Uzbekistan after false bomb threat, Egyptian officials say.
An EgyptAir passenger plane has made an emergency landing in Uzbekistan after receiving a call claiming that a bomb was on board, two Egyptian aviation officials have said.
They said it was a false bomb threat and that all 118 passengers and 17 crew on flight MS955 from Cairo to Beijing were safely evacuated from the aircraft.
No explosives were found, they added.
“The plane is preparing to resume its journey. It was a hoax, thank God,” the Associated Press news agency said quoting one of the officials.
Uzbekistan Airways said in a statement posted on its website that the plane “successfully landed” in the western city of Urgench.
“Currently, the plane is in a safe zone. Crew members and passengers have been evacuated. Designated officials are examining and checking the aircraft,” it said.
EgyptAir has received a number of bomb threats since flight MS804 crashed in the Mediterranean with 66 people on board on May 19.
Authorities are still investigating that crash.
ISIL has been waging a deadly uprising against Egyptian security forces and last October claimed the bombing of a Russian airliner flying home holidaymakers from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.