Diverted Greek plane leaves Ireland for New York after bomb alert

DUBLIN, Sept 29 (AFP) - An Olympic Airlines plane diverted to Ireland following a bomb alert, the second faced by the Greek carrier in four days, resumed its journey to New York Wednesday after no device was found on board, airport officials said.
"The plane's airborne, just off the runway," an official at Shannon airport in western Ireland told AFP at 2:12 am (0112 GMT).
The plane's 295 passengers and 12 crew reboarded and resumed their journey some nine hours after the Airbus had touched down Tuesday amid a massive secucity operation.
The aircraft took off from Athens at 1:13 pm (1013 GMT) but while it 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.
US authorities had refused permission for the plane to land at John F. Kennedy airport in New York and it was decided the plane would make an emergency landing at Shannon as it was the nearest airport, the airline said.
All other inbound flights to the Irish airport were immediately diverted and emergency personnel, an army bomb disposal team and local hospitals were put on standby.
On landing, the plane was escorted by fire and security services to a remote part of the airport where its passengers and crew were evacuated.
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.