FBI: Bomb threat forced landing of Southwest flight
Jun 10, 2013, 8:58 PM | Updated: 8:58 pm
PHOENIX — A police search involving a Southwest Airlines flight diverted to Phoenix has ended Monday night, according to Sky Harbor spokeswoman Julie Rodriguez.
A “telephonic bomb threat” resulted in the flight headed from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, to make an emergency landing in Phoenix.
Laura Eimiller of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said the flight left Los Angeles International Airport at 2:12 p.m. before the threat was received by telephone. She didn’t provide further details.
“The FBI and law enforcement partners are responding to conduct an investigation of the aircraft, as well as to determine the person or persons responsible for the threat,” Eimiller said in a statement.
Southwest Airlines flight 2675 was diverted at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department. The Phoenix Police Department bomb squad was investigating along with bomb-sniffing dogs. The Phoenix Fire Department, FBI and Transportation Security Administration were also on scene, a police official said.
The flight was escorted by two Arizona National Guard F-16s to Sky Harbor, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base said.
The plane was isolated on the runway and about 150 passengers were taken off. Southwest was working to get all passengers to their destinations.
Some flights were delayed during the investigation, as the north side of the airport was shut down.
Southwest Airlines released a statement shortly after the plane landed.
Out of an abundance of caution, the captain of Southwest Airlines flight 2675, en route from Los Angeles to Austin, safely landed in Phoenix to look into a possible security threat. The 143 Customers are being deplaned via airstairs and we will accommodate them on their way to AUS as soon as possible.
A passenger on the flight tweeted out that the FBI asked them to fill out information cards.
#FBI made us fill these out cards #flight2675 #swa #whathappened twitter.com/zcloco/status/…
— Zoom Horvath(@zcloco) June 10, 2013
Another passenger that had tweeted about being on the flight and took a photo, sent a tweet that the passengers were being asked questions from officials.
Just questioned. 4 questions asked. Everyone from the flight will be asked same questions.
— Edward Burger (@ebb663) June 10, 2013
The Arizona Department of Transportation said the Interstate 10 westbound and eastbound ramps at Sky Harbor Circle have reopened Monday night, after being closed earlier in the day as a result of the investigation.
Those attempting to access the airport could do so from the ramps from State Route 143 on the east side of the airport.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
A passenger posted this video after being evacuated from the plane.
