Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been temporarily closed after a bomb scare on Kenya Airways flight to Johannesburg. A man who allegedly raised the false alarm in a Johannesburg-bound Kenya Airways plane forcing the flight to abort take off at airline has been arrested, according to the airline
It is alleged that the passenger mentioned the word ‘bomb’ during the argument with a flight attendant in the plane causing a scare in the plane which was about to for take-off according to police sources
Rescreening of the grounded aircraft has put the JKIA on temporary lockdown while the alleged suspect has been handed to the Anti-Terror Police Unit for further interrogation.
To confirm the incident Kenya Airways has issued an official statement.
” At approximately 1300 GMT today Kenya Airways was notified of a possible bomb threat on one of our flights. The unfortunate bomb scare incident was reported on flight KQ 762, which was departing from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for OR-Tambo International Airport Johannesburg. KQ would like to report that the passenger who raised the bomb scare has been taken into police custody. All the other passengers and crew have disembarked for security re-screening and the aircraft is undergoing extensive security checks. At Kenya Airways, one of our core values is the safety of our passengers and this is a necessary a precautionary exercise,” read a part of the statement.
Kenya Airways affirmed that it is working closely with the relevant law enforcement agencies, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and the Kenya Airports Authority to counter any security threats to our passengers and the country and will update the public on the feedback.
A few minutes ago, Kenya Airports through their official Twitter account tweeted,” We would like to clarify to the general public that flight operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport are up and running.”
