Canadian fighter jets escort Cathay Pacific plane from Hong Kong into Vancouver

Cathay Pacific plane from HK escorted to Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian fighter jets escorted a Cathay Pacific airliner coming from Hong Kong to a safe landing in Vancouver International Airport on Saturday following a bomb threat, officials said.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that passengers had been safely taken off the plane and that nothing of concern had been found in the baggage.

“This is incident is being taken very seriously,” Cpl. Sherrdean Turley, adding the threat regarding Flight CX838 was called in to police at about 10:45 a.m. local time (1745 GMT).

Cathay Pacific in a statement said that the plane has been cleared by Canadian authorities to return to Hong Kong.

It added that Canadian police were “conducting an investigation into the bomb hoax,” and that it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Canadian F-18 Hornet fighter jets intercepted the Airbus A340 with 283 passengers and 14 crew members aboard and flew alongside it until it landed around 1:40 p.m. local time (4:40 p.m. Eastern time, 2040 GMT).

“As a precaution, NORAD fighters escorted the aircraft until it landed safely in Vancouver,” said North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Maj. Holly Apostoliuk.

Passengers told CTV News they were not informed of any problems during the flight.

One passenger told CTV News the fighters appeared about 80 miles (128.74 kilometers) from Vancouver.

“I was scared,” he said. “He was near to our plane, very near to our plane.”