Swedish plane diverted over bomb threat

A Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) plane carrying 72 people from London to Stockholm was diverted to Gothenburg on Friday after a bomb threat and passengers were evacuated, police said.

“The 72 people on board the plane, including the crew, have been evacuated. The evacuation is completed,” police spokesman Stefan Gustafsson told AFP.

The plane was parked at a remote area of the Landvetter airport in Gothenburg, on Sweden’s west coast, and a bomb squad was called to search the aircraft.

“The bomb technicians have arrived and are preparing to search the plane,” Gustafsson.

He said the bomb threat was called in to air traffic controllers while the plane was in the air.

The flight landed at Landvetter around 10:00 a.m. (0900 GMT).

All air traffic to and from the airport was initially interrupted because of the bomb scare, but departing flights were later resumed, a spokeswoman for Landvetter said.

Arriving flights will be blocked as long as the police operation is underway, she said.

Landvetter is Sweden’s second-biggest airport, registering around six million passengers in 2015.