Friday, Jul 21, 2017

Cairo: A passenger flight scheduled from the Egyptian capital to Athens was delayed for two hours on Friday over a security threat, sources at Cairo airport said.

The flight crew had found a note in English pasted to a seat inside the EgyptAir plane reading “Wanted since 2002 alive or dead”, the sources added on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

“The plane was moved to an emergency runway where explosives experts and sniffer dogs thoroughly searched it,” one source said. “Nothing suspicious was found on the plane.”

The Boeing 737 later left Cairo for Athens with 108 passengers on board after a two-hour delay.

In recent months, Egypt has tightened security at its airports in the aftermath of two air tragedies.

In October 2015, a Russian airliner went down in Sinai Peninsula shortly after departure from the resort city of Sharm Al Shaikh, killing all 242 people on board. Daesh claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft.

The tragedy prompted Russia to halt its flights to Egypt, dealing a harsh blow to the already-ailing Egyptian tourism industry.

In May last year, an EgyptAir plane plunged into the Mediterranean Sea while en route from Paris to Cairo, leaving all 66 people on board dead.

An Egypt-led investigation committee said traces of explosives were found on bodies retrieved from the site of the crash.

by Ramadan Al Sherbini Correspondent

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