Canadian fighter jets escort plane after bomb threat

Canadian fighter jets escorted a Cathay Pacific plane from Hong Kong to a safe landing in Vancouver International Airport following a bomb threat.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said passengers had been taken off the plane safely and nothing of concern had been found in the baggage.

"This is incident is being taken very seriously," Cpl Sherrdean Turley said. He said the threat regarding Flight CX838 was called to police at about 10.45am local time yesterday (6.45pm BST).

Canadian F-18 Hornet fighter jets intercepted the Airbus with 283 passengers and 14 crew members aboard and flew alongside it until it landed at around 1.40pm.

"As a precaution, NORAD fighters escorted the aircraft until it landed safely in Vancouver," said North American Aerospace Defence Command's Major Holly Apostoliuk.

Passengers told CTV News they were not informed of any problems during the flight.

One said the fighters appeared about 80 miles from Vancouver.

"I was scared," he said. "He was near to our plane, very near to our plane."