Bomb threat forces N.Y.-bound flight to land

LONDON - A bomb threat that mentioned Iraq forced a New York-bound Greek airliner to make an emergency landing Sunday at London's Stansted Airport escorted by military jets, authorities said.

Britain's Royal Air Force scrambled planes to assist Olympic Airlines Flight 411 - an Airbus A340 airliner - the Ministry of Defense said. The plane, headed from Athens to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, landed safely at Stansted, north of London, at 3:30 p.m..

Olympic said it learned of the threat about two hours earlier and notified the pilot immediately. Chief executive Leonard Vlamis said the passengers had remained calm.

"There was no problem inside the flight; everything was normal," he said.

A spokeswoman said the plane, with 301 passengers and crew on board, landed in "full emergency" status and was safely evacuated.

Essex police said teams were removing all baggage from the plane for searching.

Assistant Chief Constable Liam Brigginshaw declined Sunday evening to say how long that might take.

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