If you find regular flight delays bad enough, spare a thought for the passengers aboard KLM flight KL461, who had to sit through a bomb threat on Thursday evening… only to end up stranded in Bucharest.
As of Friday, November 6, NU.nl reports that the passengers have been put up in hotels, while the airline arranges replacement flights to get them to their destination.
What happened aboard flight KL461?
The flight took off from Amsterdam Schiphol at 4:40 PM yesterday, bound for Tel Aviv, with its usual stop in Bucharest along the way. However, roughly three hours into the flight, the crew received a bomb threat.
In response, the pilots requested that the aircraft be checked by a bomb disposal team during their scheduled stop in the Romanian capital, states news agency Agerpres.
They made their scheduled stop in the Romanian capital with no issues, with all 52 passengers and six crew members disembarking safely.
The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) pyrotechnics team conducted a full inspection of the aircraft and determined that there were no explosive materials aboard. The aircraft was cleared for takeoff the following morning (Friday, November 6).
Helaas, a mechanical issue came to light during taxiing, and the flight was subsequently cancelled.
Who’s behind the bomb threats?
Unfortunately, no one knows yet — not even the Dutch authorities.
“The number of bomb threats in such quick succession is striking and has the special attention of the NCTV,” a spokesperson for the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) tells Hart van Nederland. “Unfortunately, it is unavoidable that such reports are made.”
And when such a report is made, the NCTV stresses, it must always be followed up on.
At least seven passenger flights across Europe were targeted by these reports, with no explosives found on any of the aircraft, the NOS reports. Bucharest alone received four threats on Thursday, all of which proved false.
Were you on any of these flights, or do you know someone who was? Share your experiences in the comments below.
