Passenger aircraft escorted into Manchester after hoax bomb threat
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Updated 5 August, 14:39 BST
A Qatar Airways aircraft was escorted into Manchester Airport by military jets earlier this afternoon after a bomb hoax.
A man onboard the flight has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat on the aircraft, which was escorted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) after it received information from the pilot.
Flight QR23 was travelling from Doha to Manchester on an Airbus A330-300 and arrived at the airport ahead of its scheduled arrival time of 13.15. There were 269 passengers and 13 crew onboard.
A statement from Qatar Airways said: “The crew had received a threat about a possible device on board and Qatar Airways immediately took all the necessary precautions to alert British authorities.
“The crew is now fully assisting police at the airport with their inquiries. The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is our top priority. As this is a matter of a police investigation, we cannot comment further at this time.”
Greater Manchester Police immediately treated the situation as an ‘emergency’. All passengers have now been evacuated from the aircraft.
Passengers now being allowed off the plane at @manairport. One passenger still with officers and incident still being dealt with.
— G M Police (@gmpolice) August 5, 2014
Passenger Josh Hartley had been tweeting throughout the incident, with images including one of the fighter jets and the emergency services on the ground.
Being escorted in pic.twitter.com/SlV57ybCWj
— Josh Hartley (@JoshHartley_) August 5, 2014
— Josh Hartley (@JoshHartley_) August 5, 2014
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