Canadian police say aircraft headed from New York to Istanbul with 256 people on board landed safely in Halifax and will be searched

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Turkish Airlines flight from New York to Istanbul has been diverted to Canada after a bomb threat.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it was investigating a bomb threat that caused the flight to divert and land in Canada.

Halifax Stanfield international airport said on its Twitter feed early on Sunday that the flight landed safely and police were at the scene. There were 256 people on board.

The RCMP in Nova Scotia said it would not comment on the details of the bomb threat and was looking to identify the person or persons responsible.

It added that police would be “searching the Turkish Airlines plane using police dogs trained in explosives”.

The RCMP said the bomb threat was received at 10.50pm local time when, according to flight tracking sites, the plane had already taken off from John F Kennedy international airport in New York.

Last Tuesday night Air France Flight 55 from Dulles international airport outside Washington was diverted to Halifax after an anonymous bomb threat was phoned in after the plane had taken off. An FBI statement later said authorities investigated and found no credible threat, and the RCMP said investigators found no evidence of an explosive device.