Sick bag note causes airliner bomb scare

ROME - A bomb threat scrawled on a sick bag caused a passenger plane from London to Egypt to be diverted to southern Italy on Friday, but police said it appeared to be a false alarm.

"The alarm has been called off," said Brindisi border police chief Salvatore de Paolis.

The charter flight from Gatwick airport to Hurghada in Egypt with 269 passengers on board was escorted to Brindisi by an Italian jet fighter after the pilot raised the alarm by radio to air traffic controllers in Zagreb.

The passengers were evacuated immediately after landing in Italy and anti-terrorist police inspected the aircraft with the airport fire brigade on standby.

But budget airline Excel said it was only a precaution taken after a passenger found a threatening note written on a sick bag in a seat pocket.

"It is all over," said a spokeswoman for Excel. "The checks have gone on and once it is all cleared the passengers are going back onto the aircraft and it will resume its journey - sooner rather than later, we hope."

Airlines travelling in and out of Britain have been on even higher alert than usual since police there said they had foiled a major plot to carry out suicide bombings on planes bound for the United States using liquid explosives disguised as drinks.

Excel Airways, owned by Icelandic investment firm Avion, said that with airlines and passengers all "slightly anxious at the moment" the captain felt it best to have the plane searched "so that everybody would feel comfortable about carrying on".

- REUTERS