2 Air France Flights Bound For Paris Diverted After Bomb Threats

Two Paris-bound Air France airliners were diverted Tuesday night after bomb threats.

Air France said both flights were ordered grounded after takeoff based on the anonymous phone threats. The planes landed safely, the airline said in a statement. Passengers were evacuated and the airliners and luggage were being searched. 

#AirFrance confirms that both flights #AF055 from Washington #IAD and #AF065 from Los Angeles #LAX landed safely. pic.twitter.com/m5mMBxoAsU

— Air France Newsroom (@AFnewsroom) November 18, 2015

AF55, an Air France flight from Washington, D.C., to Paris, was diverted to Stanfield International Airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, according to the airline. A spokesperson for the airport said passengers had exited the plane, which had landed safely. Kelland Sundahl, a CBC journalist, said fire crews had arrived at the scene.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are leading the investigation in Halifax, reports The Associated Press. A spokesman for the agency said 262 people had been on the flight. 

Video from Old Guysburough Rd as emergency crews check out Air France Flight 55 @laja_destremau #Halifax pic.twitter.com/0NLECnHYjW

— Pat Healey - Laker (@Laker_PatHealey) November 18, 2015

A second Air France plane, carrying 497 people from Los Angeles to Paris, also was grounded Tuesday night. That plane, AF65, landed in Salt Lake City.

Radar shows two Air France flights bound for Paris from the U.S. have been diverted; one to Halifax, one to SLC. pic.twitter.com/RQMGHMPA9b

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) November 18, 2015

KSL.com reporter Nicole Vowell said the diversion was "due to a bomb threat." She added that "airport police [and] multiple agencies" surrounded the airliner.

"Several law enforcement agencies are working in concert, following established protocol, to determine the nature of the threats which caused the aircraft to divert," Todd Palmer, an FBI special agent in Salt Lake City, said in a statement.

Here is the full statement from the #FBI over diversion of #AirFrance plane to #SLC @abc4utah pic.twitter.com/dWfxfnhC8Z

— ABC4 Aldo (@aldovazquezTV) November 18, 2015

Keith Rosso, an AF65 passenger from California, told AP that "everything was smooth, everything was great, everything was going swell" for the first two hours of the flight. 

Suddenly, "the flight attendants quickly came by and cleared plates, then there was an announcement that we were making an emergency landing and that the flight attendants were trained exactly for situations like this," Rosso said.

Salt Lake City International Airport spokeswoman Bianca Shreevesaid the empty plane was parked a safe distance from the terminal.

BREAKING: @airfrance plane diverted from #LAX to #SLC headed to #Paris due to bomb threat. @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/bkEvbg4PLx

— Nicole Vowell (@NicoleVowellKSL) November 18, 2015

BREAKING: @FBISaltLakeCity And Airport police, multiple agencies have plane surrounded. Passengers I'm told are safely getting off plane

— Nicole Vowell (@NicoleVowellKSL) November 18, 2015

Air France Flight 65 LA to Paris was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Emergency landing in Salt Lake. Airplane is surrounded by police. We are being interrogated one by one by the FBI. #airfrance #flight65 #laxtocdg #saltlake #saltlakecity #slc #bombthreat

A photo posted by @ara.adjamian on Nov 17, 2015 at 6:56pm PST

This is a developing story. 

 

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