Flight diverted after passenger says she has explosive device inside body
The crowded US Airways flight from Paris to Charlotte, N.C., had just reached the northeastern tip of Canada when one of the passengers, a French citizen born in Cameroon, handed a flight attendant a cryptic note that said she had something hidden inside her body, raising fears of a terror scenario that security officials had warned about.
Alarmed that the woman could be carrying a surgically implanted bomb, the crew notified authorities. U.S. fighter jets were scrambled, and the pilot was told to make an emergency landing in Bangor, Maine.
State and federal agents met the plane when it landed, and the woman was arrested. Before the landing, an examination by two doctors aboard the plane found that the passenger had no scars or incisions.
A pair of F-15 fighter jets launched from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass., escorted the plane through U.S. airspace. The plane had 179 passengers and nine crew members on board.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI earlier had warned airlines that terrorists might try to surgically implant bombs inside the bodies of passengers.
