A Ryanair flight bound for Manchester, England was halted and evacuated at the Rygge Airport in Moss, south of Oslo, on Sunday evening because of the “suspicious behaviour” of two passengers. Police later said it may all have been a misunderstanding.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that one of them was allegedly overheard to use the word “bomb” during a quarrel in an airport lavatory prior to boarding. Police said that when they came on board the Manchester-bound flight, other passengers who had overheard the quarrel informed the pilot who called police.
Both passengers were taken in for questioning by police, while a bomb group examined all luggage and the flight itself. It was finally cleared for departure just before 11pm.
Both people held for questioning denied ever using the word “bomb” and now police suspect it was all a misunderstanding. They confirmed that a bomb scare in Manchester itself that forced the cancellation of a football match between Manchester United and Bournemouth had some bearing on the response at Rygge. “We have seen the news from Manchester earlier today,” Øystein Stavdal Paulsen of the Østfold Police told NRK. “Taken together, we decided we needed to take this seriously.”
newsinenglish.no staff
