There was a bomb threat aginst the plane and not a thread that the plane would be used as a bomb. A caller with a narabic accent caleld Lufthansa and told them that a bomb was on the plane. The captain on board was informed and wanted to land in Israel as soon as possible. However Israel refused entrance into the airspace and the plane had to land and Cyprus. There the plane, the passengers and the cargo are being searched and it is expected that the plane will continue to Israel later today.
To make one thing clear the bomb threat was not clear, it was not metioning a special plane and german authorities as well as the Lufthansa decided that it would be safe to continue as planed. Israel however insited that the plane had to land in Cyprus.
However it should be noted, that the plane was closer to Israel then to Cyprus, when it was forced to turn around. IDF/AF planes “escorted” the plane to Cyprus.
LARNACA, Cyprus (AFP) – A Lufthansa flight en route to Israel landed at Larnaca airport in Cyprus after receiving a bomb alert that subsequent investigations said were not serious.
But the 331 passengers and 18 crew were evacuated from the Boeing 747, which had been on its way from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, and two sniffer dogs were taken on board to begin a search, an AFP correspondent at the scene said Tuesday.
The aircraft was parked about two kilometres (a mile and half) from the main terminal and a police car and what appeared to be a bomb squad truck were at the scene.
Cypriot police spokesman Dimitris Dimitriou said earlier that a special unit would “search the aircraft and luggage for any suspect items.”
In Berlin, a company spokewoman told AFP a bomb alert had been received just after Flight LH 686 left Frankfurt, Germany at 10:10 am (0810 GMT).
“We came to the conclusion with the German authorities that this alert was not serious. We wanted to fly through to Tel Aviv but the Israeli authorities forced us to land in Larnaca,” the spokeswoman said. Earlier, military sources in Jerusalem also spoke of fears about a bomb on board and said the Israeli air force was on a state of “very high alert”.
The Internet edition of Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane and keep it out of Israeli airspace.
A Cypriot civil aviation official said the plane had landed at 3:08 pm (1208 GMT), and a company spokeswoman in Athens said the flight would be delayed by four hours.
The civil aviation official said the pilot had given no reason for the unscheduled landing and had asked for permission to depart as soon as possible.
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