Report Of 'Suspicious Wires' Leads To Evacuation Of Delta Jet At JFK
Updated at 1:02 a.m., July 13, 2012
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A jetliner bound for Madrid was returned to John F. Kennedy International Airport as a precaution Thursday evening after a passenger reported strange wiring in the bathroom, but no explosive device was found, law enforcement officials said.
Delta Flight 126, with 206 passengers on board, was briefly in the air, but returned to the airport, where the NYPD bomb squad and FBI met the flight and an investigation was launched. All of the passengers were safely evacuated, officials said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, "Delta flight 126 departed JFK bound for Madrid, Spain and returned to JFK after departure. The flight landed safely at 9:33 p.m."
A Delta spokeswoman said the flight was returned to Kennedy "out of an abundance of caution" and that "the flight landed safely."
It is believed the plane turned around due to a sick passenger, officials said. However, once the plane was on the ground, federal air marshals discovered "suspicious wires" in the bathroom, which led to the plane being evacuated. Police briefly questioned a man and a woman about the wires. Officials were concerned the woman may have been creating some sort of diversion, but that was determined not to be the case. The male passenger denied having anything to do with the wires. Both passengers were released.
The wires were determined to be non-explosive, but apparently did not belong to the plane, the NYPD said.
Calls to the Transportation Security Administration were not immediately returned.
No injuries were reported. Delays of 30 minutes of more were impacting flights all over JFK, so check with your airline.
In May, a US Airways jet traveling from Paris to North Carolina was diverted to Maine after a French passenger handed a note to a flight attendant mentioning that she had a surgically implanted device, raising fears of a terror scenario that security officials had warned about. After landing, the plane taxied to a remote part of the airport where law enforcement officials removed the passenger.
Please stay with CBSNewYork for more on this developing story ….
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