Turkish Airlines bomb threat: Flight from New York diverted to Canada

Passengers transferred from flight safely as Canadian police use dogs to search for explosives onboard

A Turkish Airlines flight from New York was diverted to Canada (Getty)

A Turkish Airlines flight leaving New York bound for Turkey was diverted to Halifax in Canada after a bomb threat.

The plane landed safely and police used dogs trained in explosives to search the aircraft, the Nova Scotia branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Halifax airport said in a tweet, reposted by the RCMP, that the transfer of 256 passengers and crew from the flight to the terminal had gone smoothly.

No bomb was found on the flight.

The threat was received at 10:50pm on Saturday evening (2.50am on Sunday, UK time).

There was some confusion over the plane's destination in Turkey as the airport had said the flight was to Ankara, while the RCMP tweeted several times that it was bound for Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Halifax airport officials could not immediately be reached to clarify.

The incident is at least the second time in the last week that a bomb threat made to a flight leaving the US has led to it being diverted to Canada.

Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the United States were diverted for several hours on Tuesday following anonymous bomb threats.

One of the flights, which had left Washington, was diverted to Halifax, but no explosives were found.

(Additional reporting by agencies)