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Second Olympic Air bomb threat forces down flight
Looking more like the work of some sick inadequates with a grudge or spurned blackmailer.A New York-bound Olympic Airways flight carrying 295 passengers has landed in Ireland after a bomb alert. An Athens newspaper received warning of a bomb on board, the airline said - the second such incident in three days. "There was a call to a local newspaper around 3.45pm (1245 GMT) saying a bomb on the plane would explode in an hour," Olympic Airlines' Melina Pitta said. "Nothing has happened," she added. The plane made an emergency landing at Shannon, the nearest airport. The BBC's Richard Galpin, in Athens, says Greek officials have said the incident is an "absolute carbon copy" of an incident on Sunday. The second aircraft, with a crew of 12, took off from Athens at 1013 GMT, Ms Pitta said. The airline spokesman said US authorities had refused permission for the plane to land at New York's JFK airport. Airline sources told the Greek news agency ANA that they believed the bomb threat was a hoax, adding that passenger checks in Athens were rigorous. David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine, told the Press Association news agency: "What the worry is now is that this could spark off copy-cat actions that could disrupt airline services." Some high profile long term prison sentences are in order. Posted by: Bulldog 2004-09-28 |
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