LONDON, Oct. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Two British Airways (BA) air stewardesses were prevented from boarding a BA flight from Helsinki to London after allegedly failing a breath test Saturday.     

    BA confirmed that "two stewardesses allegedly failed a breath test conducted by the Finnish police at the Helsinki airport this morning before they were boarding the aircraft."

    The pair were then released and would be flown by BA back to Britain on Sunday, a BA spokesman said.

    Seats were found on other flights for most of BA's 112 passengers after the incident seriously delayed the 0440 GMT flight to London, according to a BBC report.

    Pilots, cabin crew and air traffic controllers are subject to alimit of 20mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

    BA's rules state crews should only consume alcohol in moderation in the 24 hours before reporting for duty and ban them from consuming any alcohol in the last eight hours.

    The British government gave police powers to test suspected offenders in March this year, with penalties as high as a 5,000-pound fine or two years in prison. Enditem