Bomb threat diverts Turkish Airlines flight to Canada

TORONTO (Reuters) — A Turkish Airlines flight bound for Istanbul from New York was diverted to Halifax, Canada, after a bomb threat, Canadian police said yesterday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( RCMP) said the plane, with 256 passengers, landed safely.

They were searching the plane using dogs trained in explosives, the police said on Twitter.

“Investigation into bomb threat is in its early stages. Threat was received at 10:50 p.m. this evening,” the police force tweeted.

Separately, the Halifax airport tweeted that the transfer of the passengers and crew on the flight to the terminal went smoothly and all were safe.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi said yesterday that his country has taken several steps to boost security at ports of entry following the Oct. 31 crash of a Russian airliner and vowed to not stop until all security loopholes are closed.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the signing of an Egyptian- Russian accord aimed at eventually building a nuclear power plant on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, El-Sissi said Egypt appreciated Moscow’s concerns over the safety of its citizens.

Egypt, he said, is cooperating with technical committees from Russia and elsewhere to investigate the crash, which killed all 224 people on board.

”We are dealing with the issue with a profound sense of responsibility and transparency,” he said. “We have taken a great many measures to revise security procedures at air and sea ports and I want to say that we will not stop until ... there is no loophole that could be a source of doubt or concern.”

El- Sissi’s comments, carried live on state television, were the first since Russia this week declared that the crash was caused by an explosive device, backing a claim by the Egyptian affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group that it downed the Metrojet plane.