Two planes that landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have been evacuated following what airport and airline officials called a “security concern.” According to the Houston Chronicle , a third aircraft that was on its way from Los Angeles to Orlando was diverted to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. It is still unclear as to what the security concern actually was.
According to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport spokesman Perry Cooper, the two planes that were evacuated include a JetBlue flight on its way from Long Beach, California, and a SkyWest flight from Phoenix, Arizona. Both planes landed at Seattle on Saturday afternoon and are being inspected. He added that passengers from both planes were taken to gates by bus via the airport’s third runway
In a related incident, the third plane, a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Orlando, was diverted to Dallas. That aircraft was allowed to proceed to its intended destination later — albeit after undergoing a thorough security check. The Delta Airlines Flight 1061 that landed in Texas was a Boeing 737-900, according to USA Today .
Delta Airlines spokesman Morgan Durrant has refused to divulge the reason for the emergency landing of the aircraft, and said that information would be forthcoming after authorities give the go-ahead. However, he added that the landed aircraft was checked by authorities and was eventually allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, a Dallas-FortWorth Airport spokesman, David Magana, reaffirmed that the airport is responding per protocol.
Meanwhile, several people aboard the affected planes live tweeted the incident as it happened.
A passenger on board the plane took these pictures & allowed us to share them. DFW PD investigating bomb threat pic.twitter.com/FuvEF4HCah
— Zahid Arab (@ZahidArabFox4) January 25, 2015
Passengers now re-boarding Delta 1061 to finish the trip to Orlando. Same plane. #delta1061 #dl1061 pic.twitter.com/ApxG4VP31k
— Sarah Chovnick (@theChovDawg) January 26, 2015
What makes these latest cases of evacuations and forced landings interesting is the sheer increase in the number of such incidents in the past few weeks. It was just one day ago that the Inquisitr had reported about two planes being escorted by F16 fighter jets before landing in Atlanta. Those planes too were evacuated following a bomb threat. The flights affected in that incident were Southwest Airlines Flight 2492, which landed in Atlanta from Milwaukee, and Delta Air Lines Flight 1156, which arrived from Portland, Oregon. Authorities investigating that incident said the planes were checked after a threat was made on social networking website Twitter by an unknown individual. No arrests have been made in that case so far.
At this stage, it is unclear if the latest case of security threats have any connection with yesterday’s incidents.
[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]
