Bomb threat grounds jet

2008-07-08 16:38

Tokyo - A bomb threat grounded a jet with more than 200 people on board on Tuesday at an airport in northern Japan that is the gateway to this year's Group of Eight summit, officials said.

Air Do's Boeing 767 bound for Tokyo aborted its departure at Chitose airport near Sapporo, after a male passenger told a flight attendant he had a bomb, said Mutsumi Kudo, a spokesperson for the carrier.

"A total of 215 passengers and crew members left the plane as police searched for any explosives," the spokesperson said, adding that no explosives were found and that no one was injured in the incident.

The 70-year-old man, who was not named, was taken into custody and was being questioned by local police, Kudo said.

A spokesperson from the Hokkaido Police Department confirmed that a bomb threat had grounded a commercial airplane but declined to give further details.

G8 leaders, including US President George W Bush, arrived at Chitose airport ahead of the three-day summit in Toyako, west of the airport and security was tight around the region.

- AFP