Authorities have confirmed to the media that there was a bomb scare at the Philip Goldson International Airport today. It was the result of a prank by one of the passengers onboard a Delta Airlines Flight originating from Atlanta, Georgia.
Flight 4345 arrived in Belize, its final destination, at around 11:21 a.m. with 71 passengers and 4 crew members. As soon as the flight touched down, authorities converged on the aircraft, prepared for the threat. According to Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, BDF’s Chief of Staff and Bomb Expert, they had received the news a bit earlier, while the flight was still in the air.
Jones said he received a telephone call informing him of the presence of a bomb on the plane at about 10:45 a.m. from authorities at the PGIA.
He said that when he arrived, the relevant security forces were already on the scene, and he informed them that the first step they needed to take was to get the passengers off the aircraft.
They then removed the passenger who sounded the alarm, he said. According to Jones, this passenger was a teenager who spoke French. Apparently, the teenager had held up an immigration form for the other passengers to see. On the back of the form the word “HELP!” was spelt out, along with an arrow which pointed toward a young woman who was sitting nearby.
The flight attendant at the back saw the sign and immediately approached. The young man denied that there was anything wrong, but the paper fell from his hand, and the flight attendant saw on its back surface the drawing of an atomic bomb exploding, Jones said.
The attendant then took the paper from the young man, who was at that point hesitant. The attendant then called the pilot by phone and took the paper to him personally.
The pilot then radioed to the authorities at PGIA that there was a possible threat onboard; he requested the appropriate action to be taken by those on the ground.
Jones said that when the plane landed, the passengers were evacuated and the police interviewed the young man who initiated the alarm, which at that point had already been classified as a prank.
Jones said that they learned that the teenager initiated the prank because the young woman sitting next to him was bored, and they decided to send messages to each other.
He said that he then conducted a thorough search of the plane and found no such devices.
Jones said that the young man has been detained, and, as far as he knew, was in police custody, when he, Jones, left.
Up to press time, police have not released any details on this incident. Interestingly, the story has already picked up traction in the international press.