False Bomb Threat Forces EgyptAir Flight To Make Emergency Landing In Uzbekistan: Sources

Moscow/Cairo: An EgyptAir passenger plane, en route from Cairo to Beijing, was forced to make an emergency landing in Uzbekistan today after receiving what two Egyptian aviation sources said was a false bomb threat.

All 118 passengers and 17 crew members on board the Airbus A-330-220 plane were safely evacuated, Uzbek state carrier Uzbekistan Airways said in a statement.

There was no statement from EgyptAir or official confirmation that the threat was a hoax.

The plane landed in Urgench, in western Uzbekistan, after EgyptAir received a call saying there was a bomb on board, two Egyptian aviation sources said. The plane was then searched, but no explosives were found, they said.

"The plane is preparing to resume its journey. It was a hoax, thank God," said one of the officials.

An EgyptAir Airbus-320 jet, en route from Paris to Cairo, crashed in the Mediterranean last month, killing all 66 people on board. An investigation to determine why and exactly where it crashed continues.

EgyptAir has received a number of bomb threats since then, all of which have turned out to be hoaxes.