The captain of an airplane at the center of a massive police operation at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport activated a hijacking alert during boarding. The airline acknowledged false alarm after police evacuated all the passengers.

Dutch gendarmerie announced they were responding to a “suspicious situation” on board a parked aircraft on Wednesday evening. According to NOS news, the plane’s captain had signalled by code that a hijacking attempt was underway, as passengers boarded.

27 passengers were reportedly aboard the Airbus A330 when the alert was signalled. The plane, belonging to Air Europa, was scheduled to fly to Madrid.

Military police have said that all passengers have been evacuated.

Passengers and crew are safely off the plane. An investigation is ongoing.

Minutes after the evacuation, Air Europa announced that the hijacking alert was “triggered by mistake.” Apologizing for the false alarm, the airline stated that “nothing has happened” and added that the flight will depart as planned “soon.”

#AirEuropaInfo False Alarm. In the flight Amsterdam - Madrid, this afternoon was activated, by mistake, a warning that triggers protocols on hijackings at the airport. Nothing has happened, all passengers are safe and sound waiting to fly soon. We deeply apologize. — Air Europa (@AirEuropa) November 6, 2019

Heavily armed officers with the Special Interventions Service have earlier descended on the grounded airplane, and trauma helicopters and ambulances have arrived at the airport.

Waiting to get out..... no update at all! May take a while #Schipholpic.twitter.com/Uub0ZXrk9V — Dr.Bahar Ramezanpour (@BRamezanpour) November 6, 2019

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