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A flight from the UK to the Canary Islands was escorted by fighter jets and forced to make an emergency landing after a bomb threat was discovered on board.
A threatening note is believed to have been found by one of the crew members in the bathroom on TUI flight BY6422 as it flew over Portugal on Thursday morning.
It was handed to the pilots who diverted the plane to César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport.
Bomb specialists and other specialised units met the aircraft after it landed just before 11am – with all the passengers quickly rushed off the flight.
Fighter jets were also scrambled to intercept the plane and escort it into the airport following the bomb threat.
The Portuguese Air Force said in a statement it had deployed two F-16M jets from Air Base number 5 in Monte Real.
Meanwhile, passengers were told to identify their luggage once they had got off the plane, local news site Canarian Weekly has reported.
Air traffic controllers wrote on their X account: ‘The plane has been guided with the presence of firefighters to a siding where the passengers have had to identify their luggage.
‘Landing and takeoff operations have been temporarily interrupted, which has caused some delays.’
The plane was inspected by specialist units but no explosive device was found on board. The false alarm caused four scheduled flights to be delayed.
An urgent investigation has now been launched into how the note came to be in the bathroom of the plane.
A spokesperson for the Portuguese military said: ‘With the F-16Ms already monitoring the situation to ensure the safety and good management of national airspace, the crew of the civilian aircraft decided to continue the flight to the destination airport, outside national territory.
‘Upon leaving the national flight information region, responsibility passed to Spain, with the Portuguese F-16Ms carrying out the handover of the mission and subsequent return to Monte Real.’
MailOnline has contacted TUI for comment.
