DUBLIN (AFP) - An Olympic Airlines plane bound for New York was diverted to Ireland following a bomb alert, just three days after the Greek carrier was rocked by a similar incident, airport officials said.
The plane was escorted by fire and security services to a remote part of Shannon airport in western Ireland and its passengers were being evacuated, an Irish airports authority spokeswoman said.
The plane was going through "standard bomb scare procedure," she said.
In Athens, the airline said 295 passengers were aboard the plane which was diverted to Ireland after an Athens newspaper received warning of a bomb on board.
The aircraft, which has a crew of 12, took off from Athens at 1:13 pm (1013 GMT), a company spokesman said.
Soon after 1300 GMT while the aircraft was flying over the Atlantic, an unidentified caller telephoned the Athens newspaper Eleftherotypia saying a bomb was on board and would go off an hour later.
The airline spokesman said US authorities had refused permission for the plane to land at John F. Kennedy airport in New York City.
Airline sources told the Greek news agency ANA that they believed the bomb threat was a hoax, adding that passenger checks in Athens were rigorous.
British military jets were scrambled Sunday to escort an Olympic Airlines plane, en route from Athens to New York, into Stansted airport near London after a telephone caller told a Greek newspaper there was a bomb on board.
British police said Monday the plane, carrying 301 people, continued its journey after a six-hour search of the aircraft and passengers' bags revealed nothing suspicious, police said.
An Olympic Airlines spokesman in Athens said the pilot of the Airbus plane had requested assistance after an anonymous caller warned the Greek daily newspaper Ethnos there was a bomb on board.
The pilot then contacted the British air traffic control, and the Ministry of Defence was alerted, with an unspecified number of Royal Air Force jets scrambled, the ministry said.
Police described the re-routing of the plane and the emergency evacuation of its passengers as "well-rehearsed procedures", normal practice following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.