A bomb threat was found on board an Ural Airlines flight
A Russian passenger jet has been forced to make an emergency landing after a bomb threat was found on board.
The Ural airlines aircraft was carrying 225 people from Manama in Bahrain, to Moscow in Russia when crew members found a note on board.
It is believed that the note warned of an explosive device on board the plane.
Minutes later the jet was forced to make an emergency landing in Baku, Azerbaijan where 216 passengers and 9 crew members were evacuated.
All 216 passengers have been safely evacuated, according to the state-run RIA news agency.
“The crew received information about possible foreign objects on board the aircraft, and requested a landing at the nearest airport to perform additional security checks,” A Ural Airlines spokesperson told Russia’s RBC radio.
It is not known if any suspicious items have been found on board the passenger plane.
Passengers were then evacuated at Heydar Aliyev International Airport after the captain asked for a search of the aircraft.
Local media reported no such device had been found in the plane following the “safe” emergency landing and the Russian passenger was being interrogated.
The latest mid-air crisis came just hours after an Ethiopian airlines jet crashed killing 157 people on board.
The early morning flight came down shortly after takeoff from Bole Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The flight was carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members, all of whom were killed during the crash, which happened just six minutes after the plane took off.
The plane crashed to the ground on land about 30 miles south of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said that the pilot had ‘excellent flying record’ but had reported difficulties and asked to return to Bole airport.
He also insisted that the aircraft had ‘no known technical problems’.
The jet, which came down around Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, about 31 miles south of the capital city, is thought to have been delivered to the airline about four months ago.