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Eurowings Plane Emergency Landed in Kuwait is Explosive-Free | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Eurowings Plane (Photo: Reuters)


Kuwait – Kuwaiti authorities cleared the German-bound airplane, which had an emergency landing in Kuwaiti airport, for flying again after confirming there was no bomb on board.

Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that initial investigations confirmed the Airbus A330 plane was explosives-free and rescheduled the civilian German plane for a new departure time.

Eurowings said there were 299 passengers, including crew members, on board the flight, which was en-route from Oman’s capital Salalah to German city of Cologne.

The pilot has requested an emergency landing at the Kuwait City airport after leaving Salalah, Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) reported, citing that a bomb scare as the reason for the move.

The plane had just passed Shiraz at 38,000 feet when the pilot decided to change course and head for Kuwait, rather than land in Iran.

The plane was diverted to Kuwait for security reasons and in consultation with the relevant authorities, where the plane was evacuated and searched.

KUNA quoted Mansour al-Hashemi, spokesman for Kuwait’s civil aviation authority, as said ‘initial investigations confirmed the plane was explosives-free’.

Eurowings is a budget subsidiary of the German flagship Lufthansa and began offering direct flights from Cologne to Salalah in October.

Tal Muscal, a spokesman for Lufthansa, confirmed the flight was diverted and that no explosives were found on the plane.

‘I do know there is nothing on board,” he confirmed.