Korean Airlines plane forced to land following bomb threat

A Korean airlines Boeing 777 was forced to make an emergency landing at a Canadian air force base following a bomb threat, the second in two days.

The plane was on a scheduled flight from Vancouver International airport in Canada to Seoul in South Korea on Wednesday April 11 when it was forced to land at the air base around 5.30 pm local time. A bomb threat related to that specific flight, Flight 72, had been received at the Korean's airlines office in Los Angeles and the decision was made to get the plane on the ground as quickly as possible. It landed at Comox base in British Columbia after being escorted by US fighter jets which were scrambled from Portland, Oregon, according to the Daily Mail. The Vancouver Sun reports that the plane has 149 people on board which includes the 13 crew members. No-one has been injured and it seems no-one has been permitted to leave the plane as yet. A spokesman at the Comox air base said: "Wing emergency personnel are responding to the location and are securing the aircraft in accordance with normal procedures. All emergency services on the Wing have been activated". The Times Colonist quoted the Mayor of Comox, Paul Ives as saying: "There were no obvious injuries suffered by anyone on board and everyone is being taken care of, it's too early to tell if they are staying the night or headed back to Vancouver". This was the second threat received for this particular flight with the Monday flight delayed by two hours whilst authorities checked the plane following the earlier bomb threat. Nothing was found and the plane was able to continue safely to Seoul. With the current concern over the North Korean rocket launch, due to take place imminently, all threats such as these two anonymous bomb threats will be taken very seriously. Recordings have been made of the phone calls.