Bomb alert prompts Greek plane to land in London

A bomb threat prompted a Greek Olympic Airlines passenger plane to make an emergency landing, escorted by British Tornado jets, at London's Stansted Airport yesterday.

An airlines spokesman said the pilot of the Airbus A340 travelling from Athens to New York was informed over France of a call to the Greek newspaper Ethnos that a bomb was on board.

"There were 293 passengers on board and 12 crew, all of whom have been evacuated safely," Olympic spokeswoman Melina Pitta said. "We do not yet know if it was a hoax call or not."

The anonymous caller told Ethnos: "The Olympic Airlines flight 411 for America carries a bomb for Iraq... Can you hear me? Flight 411 for America, bomb. America will see. Six o'clock message for you."

"The caller appeared to give a specific point as to where the bomb was, and that's why they decided the plane had to land," said a spokesman for Stansted airport.

He said he did not know if the caller had used a codeword.

"We knew there was almost no chance for a bomb on board but we did everything and took all necessary measures to be on the safe side," Olympic airlines flights manager Konstantinos Vardakis told reporters.