A man was arrested after a charter plane heading for the Dutch Antilles was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon airport this morning.
A transatlantic flight made an emergency landing today after an unruly and
aggressive passenger reportedly claimed there was a bomb on board.
The 44-year-old Dutch man allegedly made the threat on the flight from Amsterdam to the Caribbean, prompting the pilot to divert to Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland.
All 224 passengers and 11 crew were evacuated from the aircraft while gardaí arrested the man.
The holidaymakers were later transferred to another plane to continue their journey.
A spokeswoman for the Dutch flight operator Arkefly said the man was being abusive to crew but was not physically threatening.
She said: “He seemed confused and aggressive and threatened that he had planted a bomb on board the plane.
“When he did that our cockpit crew decided to land the airplane in the nearest airport possible. That was Shannon Airport in Ireland.”
Today’s incident came at a time of heightened airline security after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day. He boarded his flight to Detroit in Amsterdam, where security has since been stepped up.
The Boeing 767 to the island of Aruba in the Dutch Antilles was about two hours into its journey today and around 210 nautical miles north west of Shannon when the request to land was received.
It touched down at about 10.30am.
The Arkefly spokeswoman said a member of the crew guarded the man until the flight landed at Shannon and he was handed over to gardaí.
Airport authorities in Shannon said the grounded plane was brought to a remote area where it will be kept isolated until the flight time expires.
A spokeswoman for Shannon Airport said: “They let the flight time elapse and only then do they search it.”
Gardai said the man was arrested under the Air Navigation and Transport Act and was initially questioned at Shannon garda station but later transferred to Ennis Garda station.
He is being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and can be detained for up to 72 hours.
Arkefly sent a back-up plane to Shannon to pick up the passengers and crew and continue to Aruba.
PA