Turkish Airlines plane lands in Spain after ‘threat’

A Turkish Airlines plane made an emergency landing at Barcelona El Prat Airport after a passenger created an in-flight wireless network containing a bomb threat, a Turkish Airlines spokesman said.

Spokesman Yahya Üstün said, “It was determined that a passenger set up an internet access point on the plane and determined the network name to include a bomb threat” as the plane departing from Istanbul approached its destination in Barcelona.

As a result, the plane made an emergency landing.

Firefighters deployed five teams as a precaution, and El Prat de Llobregat’s local police units were also mobilized.

According to flight tracking data, the plane flew in a pattern off the Catalan coast for about 20 minutes before landing.

Authorities said the passengers on the plane got off the plane on their own and were taken to a secure area.

Spain’s Civil Guard police force said it was investigating the incident and that the airport was operating normally.

from EFE