Passengers aboard Air France flight No. 463 headed to France from Mauritius were Sunday morning December 20, 2015 forced to make an emergency stopover at Kenya’s coastal city Mombasa, after a suspected explosive was found aboard the aircraft.
According a statement from the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, pilots of the Boeing 777 plane that was en route to Charle De Gaulle airport in Paris requested to make the emergency landing, and landed safely slightly past midnight.
The Mombasa Airport was temporarily closed to departing and arriving flights, as the county security team and airport security safeguarded the airport and its environs.
The Kenyan security agents were said to be closing in on two passengers who appeared suspicious, Daily Nation reported.
All the 459 passengers were screened at the airport lounge and evacuated to various hotels in Mombasa together with the 14 crewmembers, where they were also receiving care and counselling.
Officers secured the airport, while bomb experts were conducting a search inside the plane.
Interior Principal Secretary Amb. Monica Juma landed in Mombasa to address the situation, and announce if any arrests with the regard to the bomb scare had been made.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaisserry and the PS Monica Juma met some of the passengers at Mombasa’s Continental Hotel, and assured them of safety in Kenya. The two government officials then visited other evacuees at Travelers Beach Hotel, where they joined them for lunch.
Just like Kenya struggling with the Al-Shabaab menace, France has been a terror target in recent times, with the latest occurrence on the European nation being thedeadly multiple-venue attack on Friday November 13 in its capital Paris.
Kenya’s struggle with terrorism, particularly in the coastal area where Air France made the emergency landing, has seen the nation improve its counter terrorism and terror preparedness.
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