British Typhoons escorted US bound Egypt Air to land in Glasgow

Egypt Air passengers have begun exiting a plane which was forced to make an emergency landing at Glasgow Prestwick airport today.

Egypt Air passengers have begun exiting a plane which was forced to make an emergency landing at Glasgow Prestwick airport today.

The Egyptair plane was travelling from Cairo to New York when staff was alerted to a threatening note left in the toilet.

The aircraft was escorted by British Typhoons from RAF Leuchars during its flight from Cairo to JFK Airport in New York.

A spokesman for Prestwick Airport said it landed about 2.30pm but the airport continued to operate as normal, with flights continuing since the Egyptair plane landed.

Police Scotland posted an update on their Facebook page, which said: “More than 100 passengers have disembarked from Egypt Air flight 985, the remainder of the passengers continue to disembark in a calm and orderly manner.

“The passengers are being taken to the airport terminal where they are being looked after by aircraft staff. Officers will be speaking to all the passengers during the evening in connection with the incident. They will continue their journey as soon as is reasonably possible.”

BBC employee Nada Tafik who was on board, said she found the handwritten note.

Earlier, she told the BBC News Channel: “I’m still on board, we were told that we would be able to get off half an hour ago but we’re still here on the plane and as you can imagine it’s a pretty tense situation.

“Everyone is out of their seats and everyone is very concerned and we don’t have much information at all.

“I’m actually the one who found the note in the rest room. When I went in to change my daughter about three hours into the flight, I found a note by the sink saying ‘I set this plane on fire’ with the seat number 46 D written on it.

“So I immediately went to the crew and told them about it.

“It was on a hand napkin written in pencil and the pencil was actually still there so I told the crew to make sure to keep it so they can get any finger prints off of it. They locked the bathroom immediately so that no one could go into it.

“It almost looked like a child’s handwriting or someone who has very sloppy handwriting, but it was very alarming especially these days when everyone is so concerned about safety on flights. I said to one of the stewardesses ‘I don’t know if this is a prank’, they said no, it can’t be a prank.

“Either someone has a very bad sense of humor or, you know, it’s very scary.

“No security has boarded the plane, we’re all just waiting to get off; people are out of their seats. It’s a bit chaotic; no one really knows what’s going on.”

A spokeswoman said: “At around 1420 hours today an Egyptair aircraft flying from Cairo to New York was diverted to Prestwick Airport after a suspicious note was discovered on the aircraft.

“There are no reports of anyone injured and police are currently making arrangements for the 326 passengers to disembark.

“All passengers will then be interviewed by police.”

About the author

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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