Air France plane lands in Brazil after bomb hoax

An Air France passenger plane flying from Rio to Paris made an emergency landing in northeastern Brazil Saturday night after a hoax bomb alert.

All 405 passengers and 18 crew members were safely evacuated from AF Flight 443, said Jorge Andrade, a spokesman for airport authority Infraero in the Brazilian city of Recife.

"Air France confirms that the crew was informed in-flight of a threat of a possible presence of an explosive device on board," said an Air France spokesman.

The pilot was requested to land in Recife for an inspection, Air France said.

Solange Argenta, a spokeswoman at the Recife airport, said authorities had not found any explosives after a five-hour search, and the jet was expected to be cleared to resume its flight to Paris. The airport was closed for about 30 minutes.


Flight 443 was on the same route as an Air France airliner that crashed last June off Brazil's northeastern coast, killing all 228 people aboard. It was the worst crash in Air France's 75-year history.

No definite cause has been determined in the crash.

Source:Xinhua