2 Air France flights bound for Paris diverted due to bomb threats

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Air France Flight 065 from LAX to Paris diverted due to bomb threat, FAA says
Air France Flight 65 from Los Angeles International Airport to Paris was diverted to Salt Lake City due to an anonymous bomb threat, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Two Air France flights bound for Paris, one from Los Angeles International Airport, were diverted because of anonymous threats phoned in after they had taken off.

Air France Flight 65 from LAX to Paris was diverted to Salt Lake City after an anonymous person called about two hours into the flight and threatened that a bomb would go off in 90 minutes.

The plane was immediately diverted and landed without further incident at about 7:30 p.m. in Utah, where hundreds of passengers were deplaned safely.

Los Angeles resident Ara Adjamian posted on Instagram that he and his fellow passengers were being interrogated by the FBI one-by-one. Investigators brought in K-9 units to search the plane and luggage.

Around the same time, another Air France plane, Flight 55, departing from Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. for Paris, was diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada's East Coast following another threat.

All 262 people aboard Flight 55 were questioned. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said investigators found no evidence of an explosive device after they searched the plane and luggage.

American authorities investigated and found no credible threat, according to an FBI statement released late Tuesday night. Officials said nothing was found on either plane.

Air France said in a statement that the flight in Salt Lake City took off for Paris at 12:29 a.m. Wednesday. The flight in Canada was postponed until Wednesday evening and passengers were accommodated in Halifax.

A statement from the airline read in part:

"Air France confirms that flights AF055 en route from Washington Dulles to Paris Charles de Gaulle and AF065 from Los Angeles to Paris Charles de Gaulle were subjects of anonymous threats received by telephone after their respective take-offs. As a precautionary measure and to conduct all necessary security checks, Air France, applying the safety regulation in force, decided to request the landings of both aircraft."

The FBI said the calls were made directly to Air France and now they're trying to identify the source of the calls.

The threats came after last week's attacks in Paris that killed 129 people and heightened security concerns around the world.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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