Sunday 20 December 2015

Update: Air France says experts trying to see if package found on plane contained explosives

The latest developments on an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that was diverted to Kenya after a suspected bomb was found on it.

Air France says investigators are working to confirm whether the package found on Flight 463 contained explosives.

The Boeing 777 was heading to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Mauritius when its pilots requested an emergency landing at 12:37 a.m. Sunday in the Kenyan city of Mombasa.

Kenyan authorities said the suspected device was found in one of the plane's lavatories.

The Air France spokeswoman, who could not be named to discuss the ongoing investigation, said local authorities were also interviewing passengers. The airline has sent a substitute plane to pick up the passengers.

A passenger on Air France Flight 463 says everything was calm and passengers thought there was simply a technical problem as their flight to Paris was being diverted to the Kenyan city of Mombasa.

Passenger Benoit Lucchini says "the plane just went down slowly, slowly, slowly. So we just realized probably something was wrong, but the personnel of Air France were just great. They were just wonderful. So they kept everybody calm. We did not know what was happening."

He spoke to journalists in Mombasa after getting off the plane.

Kenyan police say the flight from Mauritius was diverted after pilots requested an emergency landing at 12:37 a.m. on Sunday. The Kenyan Airports Authority says a suspected explosive device was found in the plane's lavatory.

The Kenya Airports Authority says what is "believed to be an explosive device has successfully been retrieved" from an Air France flight.

Police say Air France Flight 463 was heading to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Mauritius when the pilots requested an emergency landing at the Moi International Airport in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa at 12:37 a.m. Sunday.

Police spokesman Charles Owino says the device was discovered in a lavatory of the Boeing 777. He says all of the plane's 459 passengers and 14 crew were safely evacuated and bomb experts are studying the device.

The Airports Authority, in a Twitter post, says normal flight operations have resumed at Mombasa.

- AP

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