CHICAGO (CBS)– A flight traveling to Los Angeles International Airport was diverted to Chicago after a bomb threat Wednesday morning.
United Flight 1533, with 202 passengers, took off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 6:05 a.m. and landed at O’Hare Airport at 7:44 a.m. Chicago time.
Police confirmed the passengers were evacuated, and the plane was being searched at a remote location at O’Hare Airport.
According to a preliminary police report, a note was found in the bathroom stating the plane would blow up. CBS 2 has learned that a bomb-sniffing K-9 found one suspicious bag, and a robot was deployed to move it away. Police are questioning the passenger who checked that bag.
An airline source said the dog connected a scent from the threatening note and the bag.
The FBI’s Chicago office is investigating and said in a statement: “There is no indication that there is an imminent threat to public safety or the facility itself at this time.”
Rashad Robinson
A passenger on the flight told CBS 2 that he boarded a bus with police and was being taken back to the airport terminal. He said passenger’s bags are being checked.
“They are taking us back to a terminal I guess they will go through bags, maybe question us,” the passenger said. “We were forced to leave all of our stuff on the plane and have no idea what is happening next.”
Another passenger described the evacuation and also said he had to leave everything he had on the plane.
“I would say two hours in, they said we were making an emergency landing in Chicago, they didn’t say why,” the passenger said. “We couldn’t get out of our seats, so when they landed, they said that someone had written on the mirror in one of the bathrooms that there was a bomb.”
He said the flight was rescheduled for noon Chicago time.
Passenger Richard Flicking told CBS 2 he was traveling to L.A. for work when he got a notification on his watch saying his flight was being diverted to Chicago.
“I sort of like looked up and saw everybody else in the cabin looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. And nobody said a word, no announcements, anything,” Flicking said. “And then, like 10 or 15 minutes later we start to like feel it in our ears like we can tell we’re descending.”
He said a crew member then announced the situation on board the plane.
“That’s all they would say is, it’s just there’s a situation,” Flicking said.
He was texting with his wife, who was scrolling through Twitter and saw the news.
On Tuesday, passengers on an American Airlines plane tackled a man who tried to open a door during a flight from Albuquerque to Chicago.
