Fake Bomb on Air France Flight 463 Prompts Emergency Landing
A fake bomb discovered aboard Air France flight 463 on Sunday prompted an emergency landing on Mombasa, Kenya while the plane was en route to Paris.
On early Sunday, Air France flight 463 was flying from Mauritius to Paris when the pilots requested an emergency landing in Mobasa after a suspected bomb was discovered inside a lavatory. Hours after the Boeing 777 landed in the Kenyan coastal city, the Air France CEO announced that the device found was just a fake bomb, according to CBS News.
Kenyan authorities said they screened all the 473 individuals aboard flight 463 at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa before they were taken to hotels. They also searched the aircraft for clues and other similarly suspicious objects, USA Today reports.
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In a press conference held in Paris, Air France head Frederic Gagey said the fake bomb was found in a cupboard behind a mirror. The said object was made of paper, cardboard, and a household timer, but had no explosives. He then commended the crew for their quick response to the incident, the report relays.
In addition, Gagey mentioned that the crew conducted a safety check in the bathroom and on the passengers before the plane took off. He thinks the object was placed there when the aircraft was already in the air.
Meanwhile, all the passengers were evacuated before the suspicious device was taken out of the lavatory. One of the passengers, Benoit Lucchini of Paris, recalled how they felt as the plane went down very slowly and described how the crew handled the emergency efficiently, the report details.
"The plane just went down slowly, slowly, slowly, so we just realized probably something was wrong," CBS quotes Lucchini. "The personnel of Air France was just great, they were just wonderful. So they keep everybody calm. We did not know what was happening."
Since the deadly attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, France has been placed under a state of emergency. This is not the first time that Air France flights have been diverted due to bomb threats. On Nov. 18, two flights from the United States to Paris received reports of a bomb on board but no such device was found on the planes.
