A passenger flight from Portugal to Britain carrying 108 people was diverted Tuesday after a suspicious object was found on board, British police said.
A Ministry of Defense spokeswoman said two air force fighter jets escorted the Thomson holiday company flight to Britain’s Stansted airport northeast of London, where it landed safely at 7:41 p.m.
The flight, with 103 passengers and five crew on board, was en route to Coventry, in England’s midlands region, from Faro in southern Portugal when defense officials sent fighter jets to escort it to Stansted.
“A report had been received from air crew that suspicious object had been found in the cabin by a passenger, the decision was made to divert the aircraft to Stansted as a precautionary measure,” Kim Perks of Essex Police said.
Perks said the plane landed safely and passengers and crew had disembarked. A police bomb disposal unit was at the airport assessing the situation, but the airport remained open and was operating as normal.
