Jet makes emergency landing in Iceland after bomb threat

GlobalPost

A passenger jet flying from New York to Moscow made an emergency landing in Iceland Thursday after a caller claimed there was a bomb on board. 

The plane, flown by Russian airline Aeroflot, was carrying 253 people, who were forced to disembark at Iceland's Reykjavik airport and wait in an airplane hangar for hours, the Moscow Times reported

"There was an anonymous call saying that there was an explosive device on the plane, which was already in the air," Aeroflot spokesman Irina Dannenberg said, Reuters reported. "The pilot took the decision to land the plane and it landed safely. A search is being conducted."

The call about the bomb threat was made to the New York City police, Dannenberg said, NBC News reported

More from GlobalPost: Pussy Riot trial: Bomb threat, missing witness and abused defendants

Local police in Iceland told NBC news that the flight's passengers were undergoing standard security procedures Reykjavik, and will be transported to a nearby hotel. 

The plane is expected to be searched Thursday afternoon. 

Another plane in the Russian city of Voronezh, 500 kilometers south of Moscow, was also searched after an anonymous bomb threat call, according to reports. No explosives were found on board, the International Business Times reported

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.