Passengers on a Delta Airlines flight diverted to Shannon airport yesterday after a bomb hoax were each interviewed and fingerprinted by gardaí at Shannon in a bid to identity the person behind the hoax.
The Delta Airlines aircraft, en route from Frankfurt to Atlanta, Georgia, was diverted to Shannon after a note was found in one of the aircraft's toilets stating that there was a bomb on board. A search completed last night confirmed it was a hoax.
With 147 passengers and crew on board, including two infants, the aircraft made its emergency landing at Shannon at 12.38 p.m. yesterday, with emergency services from Shannon and Ennis on site.
After landing safely, the aircraft taxied to a remote part of the airport where the passengers and crew were evacuated and transferred to the terminal.
As a precaution and in response to a threat that any bomb would have a timer attached, a search of the plane by gardaí was not made until 7 p.m. when the scheduled flight time to Atlanta had elapsed. Gardaí yesterday individually interviewed and manually fingerprinted each passenger on board in a bid to identify the person behind the hoax.
The day-long operation involved 20 gardaí who were assisted by detectives from Shannon and Ennis and also by the airport police.
The gardaí also took hand-writing samples from each passenger through their landing cards in an attempt to match it with the handwritten note.
Insp Tom Kennedy, of Shannon Garda station, said that the note containing the bomb threat is to be forensically examined by gardaí for fingerprints.
Insp Kennedy said that the interview process was "a rigorous" one and those that had admitted to using the toilet would be reinterviewed.
Insp Kennedy said that the note was discovered two hours into the flight in one of the aircraft's toilets. He said that gardaí were satisfied the note was placed in the toilet after the aircraft took off from Frankfurt yesterday morning.
He confirmed that no passenger had admitted, when interviewed by gardaí, to placing the note in the aircraft toilet.
The aircraft's passengers spent the day in the airport's departure lounge while gardaí continued their investigations into the hoax.
As a result of the hoax and the resulting Garda inquiry, the aircraft is not due to continue its journey to Atlanta until today.
Last night, special lighting equipment provided by the airport police lit up the airfield around the aircraft 750 metres from the terminal building as the search of Delta flight DL27 commenced.
Airport personnel then placed the passengers' luggage and hand-luggage on the airfield and passengers were then ferried out in groups of 30 by airport bus to claim their luggage. One of the items in the cargo hold was a dog belonging to one of the passengers.
After the 134 passengers were reunited with their luggage, they were accommodated overnight at an airport hotel.
Insp Kennedy said that there were no plans to call in the Army bomb disposal unit as no suspect package has yet been discovered. He said: "If a suspicious package is found, that will obviously change."
A spokeswoman for Delta Airlines confirmed last night that the flight had been cancelled from Shannon "for operational reasons". She said that the passengers would be accommodated on another Delta flight out of Shannon today. She was not able to say if the aircraft at the centre of the bomb scare would carry the passengers to Atlanta today.
In spite of the emergency landing, an Aer Rianta spokeswoman said that the airport operated as normal yesterday and no flights were disrupted.