Greek bomb threat plane declared safe

A Greek plane diverted to Ireland after a bomb alert has been given the all clear to continue its journey after a police sweep…

A Greek plane diverted to Ireland after a bomb alert has been given the all clear to continue its journey after a police sweep of the aircraft.

The Olympic Airlines Airbus A340, carrying 295 passengers and 12 crew, was diverted to Shannon Airport, after a local newspaper in Greece received an afternoon call saying a bomb on the plane would explode within an hour.

"The all clear has been given. The plane should leave Shannon at about 1 a.m.," Mr Kennedy said.

On Sunday, a bomb threat forced another Olympic passenger plane on the same scheduled daily Athens-New York service to make an emergency landing at London's Stansted Airport.

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A search turned up nothing and the plane was allowed to take off on Monday.

Greek police had doubted there was a bomb on board and stressed the plane went through rigorous security checks before departure.

"All the luggage went through X-ray machinery, was checked by bomb sniffer dogs and was escorted to the plane and loaded under police supervision," a Greek police official said.

Passengers and their luggage were given fresh security checks at Shannon.