A bomb hoax delayed a Thai Airways International flight from Stockholm to Phuket and Bangkok after the captain decided to turn the plane around to ensure safety.
The incident occurred on Thursday local time when a man telephoned a staff member at Arlanda airport in Stockholm and said one of the passengers on Flight TG963 had carried a bomb on board the aircraft, a Thai Airways source said.
The Boeing 777-300, with 271 passengers and 18 crew members on board, left the terminal at 4.45pm local time and was on a runway preparing for takeoff when the man made the call, the source said.
The pilots decided to abort the flight and took the aircraft to an apron before ordering all people to abandon the plane, the source added.
Security authorities at the airport checked the plane and declared it safe.
The flight was bound from the Swedish capital to Bangkok via Phuket.
Flt Lt Prathana Pattanasiri, vice-president in charge of aviation safety for THAI, said the plane is expected to leave for Thailand later on Friday.
“Our command centre received information that this specific flight was threatened. The threat came on the phone, but not to us, that's all I can say,” police spokesman Sven-Erik Ohlsson told the Swedish news agency TT, adding that police were not immediately able to dismiss it as an empty threat.
Ulrika Sten was one of the passengers, going to Thailand with her family. She told TT that the aircraft first left the gate but then stopped and did not move, without any information given about the bomb alert.
“It was standing there for almost two hours. Once every half hour we were told that there were technical problems, and that the plane would be leaving soon,” she said.
She described seeing flashing lights from an emergency vehicle at around 11.30pm and first thought one of the passengers had fallen ill.
“Then a police officer came and said we had to leave the plane. We were only allowed to bring phones and wallets,” she said.
The passengers were only told of the bomb threat after the aircraft had been evacuated. They were all questioned by police about whether or not they noticed anything suspicious during boarding.
“I can understand the idea, that you don't want to create anxiety. At the same time I think it took a very long time before we got to get off the plane,” said Sten.
Monrudee Gettuphan, Phuket airport's general manager, said on Saturday that the plane arrived at the airport at 1.01pm.