NEED TO KNOW
-
A flight bound for Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing in St. Louis after a man on board claimed that his wife had a bomb in her luggage
-
United Airlines Flight 380 was en route from Dallas to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when the pilot was forced to make an expected stop in St. Louis
-
A source told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the man, who has since been arrested, said there was a bomb in a piece of his wife’s luggage
A flight bound for Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing in St. Louis after a man on board claimed that his wife had a bomb in her luggage.
According to reports from KSDK and the New York Post, United Airlines Flight 380 was en route from Dallas to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when the pilot was forced to make an expected stop at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, landing at around 8:39 a.m. local time on Sunday, Nov. 16.
A source told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that at some point, a man — who has since been arrested — said there was a bomb in a piece of his wife’s luggage.
United Airlines told PEOPLE in a statement that law enforcement searched the aircraft before the flight was able to continue on to Chicago, and KSDK reported that investigators used bomb-sniffing dogs to search the plane.
Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty
St. Louis Lambert International Airport
The Boeing 737-700 was carrying 119 passengers and five crew members, and all passengers were forced to deboard the plane during the investigation, United said.
“United flight 380 from Dallas to Chicago landed safely in St. Louis to address a potential security concern,” the airline said in its statement. “Law enforcement searched and cleared the aircraft. The flight took off from St. Louis earlier this afternoon and has since landed in Chicago.”
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was called to the scene and was investigating.
The FBI did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further information.
The flight-tracking website FlightAware showed that United Airlines Flight 380 was delayed five hours and 33 minutes, eventually landing in Chicago at 2:50 p.m.
A number of similar incidents have taken place in recent months aboard commercial flights. In September, a woman was arrested after allegedly making a fake bomb threat on board a Frontier Airlines flight from Nashville to Denver.
“A passenger claimed there was an explosive device on the aircraft,” a spokesperson for the company shared in a statement with PEOPLE at the time. “Law enforcement support was requested, and the passenger was subsequently deplaned.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In July, a man allegedly told a passenger during a flight that his laptop was a bomb, and he was arrested.
Deputies in Pinellas County, Fla., responded to “a verbal bomb threat” allegedly made by a passenger on Allegiant Flight 1023 while flying to Roanoke, Va., as he “told another passenger that his laptop was a bomb.”
“The passenger immediately notified the flight attendants,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
The plane made an emergency landing at St. Pete-Clearwater Airport, but no bomb was found.
Read the original article on People
