EasyJet flight grounded in Turkey over bomb threat

An EasyJet flight from London Gatwick to Turkey has been held in a remote area of Dalaman Airport after a bomb threat.

The passengers on the flight were made to disembark from the plane and experts searched flight for bombs with sniffer dogs.

The easyJet Airbus 321, which took off from Gatwick Airport at 6.20am, was ordered to park on an isolated part of the runway when it arrived in Turkey.

Twitter user @ScooterSurrey uploaded footage of the plane, accompanied by the caption “5 hours of delay from a bomb threat on the plane.”

In other tweets, he wrote:

Well on the way out 2 hour delay from Gatwick trouble on the plane now we being taken off the plane in Turkey.

So been told it (was) for security reasons but still sitting on the plane. So no word of what’s happening by easyJet plane stuck in middle of the runway and we are stuck in Turkey.

Passengers waiting to board the plane to get back to the UK said they were left in the dark about the situation after the return flight was cancelled.

An easyJet spokesman told Daily Star Online:

EasyJet can confirm that police boarded an aircraft prior to departure at Dalaman today at the request of Dalaman Airport security and additional security checks were undertaken.

The safety and security of its passengers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority. We would like to thank passengers for their understanding.