A suspicious device found on an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that prompted an emergency landing was harmless and caused a “false alarm”, the airline’s chief executive said on Sunday.
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Four people have been arrested for what was first called a “bombing attempt”, but later downgraded to a “nasty joke.”
But he denied there had been any problem with security checks in Mauritius, saying the device contained no explosives, so would not have been detected.
But several continued to be questioned by police as an investigation began.
The flight landed in Mombasa, Kenya after the pretend explosive – made up of cardboard, paper and a timer – was found. Air France officials said the third hoax was on a December 8 flight from San Francisco to Paris. “This is behavior which is in extremely bad taste”.
Interior minister Joseph Nkaissery told reporters at Mombasa’s Moi International Airport that Kenyan authorities were working with their French and Mauritian counterparts to determine the nature of the device.
The plane had on board 459 passengers and 14 crew members.
Passengers on the flight make their way across Mombasa airport. “We still do not know what type of object it was”, an Air France spokesman said.
But many experts say the crew of Air France Flight 463 did the right thing, avoiding panic and quickly landing the plane.
Passengers were reassured they would be on their way home within hours.
“The plane just went down slowly, slowly, slowly, so we just realized probably something was wrong”, passenger Benoit Lucchini of Paris told the Associated Press.
‘The personnel of Air France was just great, they were just wonderful. So they kept everybody calm.
The plane, which made an emergency landing at the airport in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, was carrying 473 people.
Kenya Airways said its flights shall be experiencing flight disruptions due to temporary closure of Moi International airport for investigators. But, actually, it was not a technical problem.
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Mr Gagey said arrangements were being made to fly the passengers and crew back to Paris, adding they would return early today. Another witness said: “A stewardess told me she had seen the timer behind the toilet mirror, and there was no possible doubt – it was a bomb threat”.
