Bomb threat on flight to Hamburg with 177 people on board
Police received anonymous email from 'Islamic Caliphate in Europe' warning of bomb
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.All flights to and from Hamburg in Germany were grounded after a police received a threat from a group calling itself "Isamic Caliphate in Europe" saying a bomb had been placed on an incoming plane.
The anonymous email warned there was a bomb on an Air Berlin flight with 170 passengers and seven air crew on board. The Airbus A320 had taken off from Munich and was on its way to Hamburg when police received the email purporting to come from “the Islamic Caliphate in Europe”.
All flights into and out of Hamburg were grounded before the jet landed safely and was moved to a position some distance from the airport and other planes.
According to German news site theLocal.de, a police spokesman said: “The risk of an attack was labelled as high. You can assume from that that we took the threat seriously.”
Police then searched the luggage of every passenger on board and used sniffer dogs to search for explosives, but no bomb was found.
An investigation has been launched by state security to search for those responsible for sending the email on Sunday afternoon.
The incident only caused a “minimal effect” on air traffic in and out of Hamburg, an airport spokesperson said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments