A Manchester-bound Ryanair flight was evacuated at an airport near the Norwegian capital of Oslo after two men were overheard saying the word “bomb” during an argument, officials say. It has since been deemed to have been a misunderstanding.
The incident began on early Sunday evening when two passengers were loudly arguing as Flight 3225 prepared to take off from Moss Airport Rygge for a 2-hour flight to Manchester Airport. At one point, the men were overheard using the word “bomb”.
Police responded to the aircraft and took the two men – one British national and one Sri Lankan national – into custody. The bomb squad also responded to the aircraft to examine both the flight’s luggage and the aircraft itself.
“Boarded the plane, sat on it for an hour, taken off again, back through security, watched some bloke get dragged away in handcuffs by some big blokes with automatic weapons,” passenger Carl Stanley wrote. “Bomb squad turned up, now they’re sending another plane to pick us up.”
Ostfold County Police confirmed just before midnight that the situation was deemed to have been a “misunderstanding”, and a search of the aircraft found nothing suspicious. “Situation back to normal,” police said.
Moss/Rygge Airport, which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) outside Oslo, remained open during the bomb scare with only Flight 3225 directly impacted by the situation. Ryanair was making preparations for a second aircraft to take the passengers to their destination on early Monday morning.
A Ryanair spokesman, asked for comment, described the incident as a hoax. “Customers disembarked the aircraft and were provided with refreshment vouchers, and will depart to Manchester shortly,” he said. “Ryanair sincerely apologised for any inconvenience caused by this hoax.”
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