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# Airline Safety
Germanwings flight evacuated after bomb scare just before takeoff
The plane was about to fly from Germany to Italy.
A GERMANWINGS FLIGHT FROM Germany to Italy was evacuated shortly before take-off after authorities received a bomb threat.
All passengers and crew on the flight from Cologne to Milan were forced from the plane yesterday when the flight was aborted as the aircraft was taxiing towards the runway.
The low-cost carrier, whose parent company is Lufthansa, said the pilot got the call from air traffic controllers after police were notified of a bomb threat.
A bomb-detection squad including sniffer dogs searched the cabin and baggage hold of the Airbus A320, but nothing suspicious was found. The plane was carrying 126 passengers and crew for the flight.
The incident comes less than three weeks after a Germanwings flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.
It is believed the plane’s co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, locked the captain out of the cockpit before deliberately veering the flight into the mountainside.
- With AFP
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