Bomb scare on Ryanair flight after note found in toilet

A Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin has made an emergency landing at Stansted following a bomb scare.

 

A note claiming there were explosives on board was discovered in a toilet.

 

The flight was diverted to London Stansted at around 18:40 BST.

 

“The captain followed procedure by alerting the UK authorities and diverted to the nearest airport (Stansted) where the plane landed normally but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely,” Ryanair said.

 

RAF jets were scrambled to help “at short notice”.

 

The RAF has Typhoon jets on 24-hour standby at Coningsby in Lincolnshire and Lossiemouth in Scotland. If needed, they can get permission to fly supersonic overland to intercept the aircraft. A refuelling tanker is always deployed from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire too.

 

Stansted is the preferred airport used for security alerts – it isn’t as busy as Heathrow and Gatwick and planes can be taken to a remote corner of the airfield, away from the terminal.

 

Essex Police said the Ryanair flight had been diverted due to “reports of a security alert”.

 

Officers were checking the plane as well as passengers and were due to decide when they could continue their journeys to Dublin on a spare aircraft.