An Air China flight was turned around after receiving ‘suspected terrorist information’ during an international trip that was later said be a false threat.
The flight was travelling from France to Beijing on Thursday when it was suddenly forced to turn back and land in Paris. In a message posted across social media, the commercial airline said it "received a suspected terrorist message" after taking off.
"Air China has received a suspected terrorist message,” the statement read. "Flight CA876 has returned to Paris safely, with the plane and its passengers all unharmed."
By Thursday afternoon, however, Chinese state media reported the issue was a "false alarm."
The Air China flight reported an emergency after 8:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, Reports from international air transportation monitoring agencies about an emergency on the Air China trip were posted to Twitter early Thursday morning. The flight’s trajectory showed the plane had not yet passed Brussels, Belgium before turning around to Paris.
Air China did not immediately respond to enquiries, but said in a statement to one of its social media profiles that it turned the flight around "to ensure safety."
