Germanwings Plane Evacuated After Police Receive Bomb Threat

A Germanwings Airbus A320 had to be evacuated at the Cologne-Bonn international airport on Sunday evening after someone emailed police a bomb threat less than twenty minutes before the flight’s scheduled departure.

“The 126 passenger and six crew were safely evacuated from the plane at a designated position at the airport used for such incidents,” reports the Australian. “Bomb-sniffing dogs did not detect any explosives. Officers were combing the aircraft and all checked and hand luggage was being examined, a police spokeswoman said.”

The Associated Press reports that the plane had already left the gate and was taxiing toward the runway when the threat was received by police. The Cologne airport tower was then able to contact the pilot before takeoff.

The flight to Milan was rescheduled for later Sunday night, using a different plane.

At the time of this writing, there has been no claim of responsibility for the evidently false threat, and the police have announced neither suspects nor possible motive. Germanwings, a budget division of Lufthansa, unfortunately became famous when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed a plane into the Alps three weeks ago, killing all 150 aboard.