LONDON (AFP) - A Singapore Airlines plane flying from Frankfurt to New York was diverted to a British airport following a bomb threat that security officials said might have been a hoax.
It was the fourth plane to have been diverted in northern Europe in recent days due to a security alert.
The Boeing 747-400 landed safely at Manchester Airport in northwest England at around 10:55 am (0955 GMT) and its 293 passengers disembarked, an airport spokeswoman said Monday. It was not clear whether the 19 crew remained aboard.
A police spokeswoman added that the plane had been moved to a safe area of the airport where it would be searched.
A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said: "Early indications are that it could be a hoax but we cannot confirm that one way or another until full checks are carried out."
In Singapore, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) statement said the aircraft was diverted to Manchester "as a precaution following information received by SIA from the German authorities...
"As the information relates to security, SIA cannot detail it. The incident is the subject of a police investigation.
"The nature of the incident was not the result of anything which occurred on the aircraft involving passengers or crew."
SIA did not give any other details.
It was the latest in a recent series of plane diversions.
Following threats that turned out to be hoaxes, an Olympic Airlines plane was diverted to Stansted Airport, near London, on September 26 and another Olympic flight was forced to land at Shannon Airport in Ireland on September 28.
Both were en route from Athens to New York.
On September 30, a British Airways plane en route from Berlin to London made an emergency landing at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport Thursday after a bomb threat was received.