terrorat30,000feet

tornado jet fighters were scrambled yesterday to intercept a passenger plane after threats of a bomb on board, underlining the constant state of alert maintained by the uk’s security forces.

the raf planes, armed with guns and air-to-air missiles, were called in by civilian controllers to escort an olympic airways flight travelling from athens to new york’s jfk airport with 301 passengers and crew on board.

the passenger plane was re-routed to stansted airport in essex as part of a "full emergency", with escorting jets ready to bring the airliner down in the event of a 9/11-style hijacking.

all 290 passengers and 11 crew were evacuated safely from the airbus 340 following the landing at 3:25pm.

the aircraft was then kept in a secure holding area where police search teams were checking for a suspect device and making sure that the plane was safe.

the dramatic chain of events was sparked when ethnos, a greek daily newspaper, received three anonymous telephone warnings, referring to iraq.

police sources in greece said authorities immediately notified the pilot, who asked for a military escort. however, the airline said the scrambling of the raf jets had been a british initiative.

a new york fireman involved in the rescue effort following the attacks on the twin towers was among the passengers. robert santandrea, 33, from queens, told how the alert brought back memories.

"i was praying. i was a little nervous but everyone was very calm," said mr santandrea as he arrived at a hotel at stansted with other passengers.

artist skye ferranti, 31, of soho, lower manhattan, said:

"it was very calm on the plane. everyone seemed to stay calm until we landed and then the atmosphere changed.

"british security men armed with machine guns came on board and told everyone to leave their bags and get off as quickly as possible."

according to a tape of the bomb threats issued by ethnos, one caller said: "flight 411 olympic for america has a bomb for iraq."

in a second call, a voice that sounded like a different person said: "are you listening? flight 411 olympic for america, bomb. america will see. six o’clock message for you." one of the calls instructed the newspaper’s phone operator to pick up a proclamation from a rubbish bin in solomou street in central at

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