A Spanish airliner caused a major security scare – with three other countries scrambling fighter jets – because it flew for hundreds of miles without responding to air traffic control.
According to The Guardian, French, German and Dutch air forces were alerted to a potential suicide mission similar to the 11 September attacks in the United States.
The newspaper reports that the alert, which took place on 1 May, came to an end when a cabin attendant looked out of a window and saw two French fighter planes.
The pilot of the Boeing 737, which was flying 186 passengers from the Norwegian city of Bergen to the island of Majorca, radioed the fighter pilots to assure them that no hijack had taken place.
The Guardian states that authorities feared an attack on Brussels on Paris to mark the first day of the EU’s enlargement. The pilots reportedly stated that the flight had been “normal and routine”.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
