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Travel

German plane lands in Greece after bomb threat

August 16, 2018

A local paper reports that fighter jets were scrambled after a German passenger jet reported a bomb threat. It was flying from Egypt to Dusseldorf.

https://p.dw.com/p/33Hio
A plane flies during sunset
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.-C. Dittrich

A German passenger jet was forced to land in Greece on Thursday after reporting a bomb threat.

Condor Airways confirmed to DW that flight DE69 from Egypt's Hurghada to Dusseldorf made an unscheduled landing at Chania, on the island of Greece, for safety reasons.

"The reason why the aircraft had to divert was a safety measure that had to be executed at Chania airport. On board were 273 passengers. The aircraft has landed safely and deboarded normally," a Condor spokesperson told DW.

Condor would not confirm a bomb threat triggered the manoeuver, but DW has confirmation this was the case. 

Aircraft tracking websites showed Condor Flight DE69 was diverted to Chania airport after two hours in the air.

The passengers will spend the night in hotels before resuming their journey on Friday.

Bomb disposal experts and police sniffer dogs were investigating the aircraft, according to local media.

Athens daily newspaper Ta Nea reported the plane was escorted by two F16 fighter jets.

Condor is Germany's second-largest commercial airline. Hurghada is a tourist destination on the Red Sea coast.