Turkish flight diverted to Halifax after bomb threat

Halifax Stanfield International Airport confirmed the departure on its Twitter feed.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the bomb threat was received at 10:50 p.m. local time Saturday. Flight tracking sites show the Istanbul-bound flight had already taken off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport by then.

Turkish Airlines Flight 2, with 256 people aboard, landed safely just after midnight local time at the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The RCMP said bomb-sniffing police dogs were brought in to search the plane and passengers’ luggage, and no explosive device was found.

The RCMP said it would not comment on the details of the threat and was looking to identify the person or persons responsible.

Last Tuesday night, an Air France flight from Dulles International Airport outside Washington was diverted to Halifax after an anonymous bomb threat was phoned in after the plane had taken off. A second Air France flight from Los Angeles International Airport was diverted that same night to Salt Lake City, Utah, due to anonymous threats. Both flights continued on to Paris after being searched.

The threats came after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed at least 130 people and heightened security concerns worldwide.