An Air France with 459 passengers and 14 crew members on board was forced to land in Kenya after a bomb was found in one of the toilets.
The Boeing 777 Air France flight was heading to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris when the pilots requested an emergency landing at the Moi International Airport at 12:37am local time (early this morning Dec. 20th), police spokesman Charles Owino said.
“It requested an emergency landing when a device suspected to be an explosive was discovered in the lavatory,” Owino said.
“The plane was carrying 459 passengers and 14 crew members on board and had left Mauritius at 9pm”, Owino added.
All passengers were safely evacuated and the device was taken out. Kenyan authorities says the explosive has been successfully retrieved and bomb experts are analysing it.
The airport in Mombasa was closed during the evacuation and search process, said a police official, who insisted anonymity because he is not authorized to brief the media.
UPDATE: Below are photos of the device found in the plane’s toilet.
The device has been taken to a safe destination for denotation.
Meanwhile, the evacuated passengers who are staying at Travelers Hotel, are currently being addressed by Kenyan authorities. (See Photos below)
Kenyan security service are examining two suspicious passengers on the flight.
