British chartered plane makes emergency landing in Athens after bomb threat

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Boeing 757-200 traveling from Britain to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh made an emergency landing at Athens' airport Monday after receiving a bomb threat, officials said.

All 213 passengers are safe and police are checking the plane for any explosives, police and Defense Ministry officials told Reuters.

The plane was chartered by Thomson Airways, owned by UK's TUI Travel. TUI Travel confirmed the emergency landing.

"A British passenger plane chartered by Thomson Airways made an emergency landing at Athens international airport after a bomb threat. The plane was flying to Egypt," an airport official said.

A police official said the passengers were now in the airport terminal. "It will take some time to check the whole plane."

A Defense Ministry official said Greek jets escorted the plane to Athens after it received the bomb threat.

"At 1417 (1117 GMT) the plane requested to land, at 1422 (1122 GMT) two F16 jets took off from Greece and escorted it, at 1452 (1152 GMT) the Boeing landed at Athens international airport," said the official who declined to be named.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Ingrid Melander)

Source:Reuters US Online Report World News