Special Report: Major UK air terror plot thwarted

Security personnel surround an Excel Airways Boeing 767 after it made an emergency landing at Brindisi airport in south-eastern Italy when a message was found indicating a bomb was aboard. Civil aviation authorities said no bomb was found.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    ROME, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- A British airliner made an emergency landing in southern Italy on Friday after a passenger found a note indicating a bomb was on the aircraft, local media reported.

    A thorough search of the aircraft found no bomb and police announced it was a false alarm.

    The Boeing 767 of Excel Airways, carrying 269 passengers, was en route from London's Gatwick airport to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada when the bomb scare occurred.

    The captain asked Italian authorities for permission to land at the nearest airport, and the Italian air force dispatched an F-16 fighter to escort the Boeing to Brindisi, southern Italy.

    The handwritten note was found on the back of an airsickness bag. The Italian police suggested that it was likely a passenger on a previous plane who wrote it.

    After the alert was called off, the flight was expected to depart later Friday for its destination.

    Flights coming in and out of Britain have been on a high alert since intelligence agents thwarted a plot by suicide bombers who planned to blow up six U.S.-bound planes on Aug. 10. Enditem