Bomb alarm in Split: passengers evacuated from an Air Serbia plane, no explosives found

Passengers on the Air Serbia plane on the Split–Belgrade route were forced to leave the aircraft after police removed a passenger from it, as the Croatian portal Dnevnik.hr writes, cited by the Serbian daily Danas. The plane was due to depart from Split for Belgrade at 3:20 p.m.

According to a passenger’s account to Dnevnik.hr, while they were waiting on the runway, several police officers suddenly entered the plane, some in uniform and some in civilian clothes. “I saw the police car next to the plane through the window. They took out a grey-haired gentleman who was sitting in the third or fourth row”, the passenger said. Nobody on the plane knew what was happening; when he asked the flight attendant, she answered briefly: “He mentioned the word bomb”.

Some passengers, out of fear, simply left the plane on their own, while at around 3:40 p.m. the pilot announced over the loudspeaker that all passengers had to leave the aircraft because it had to be checked for security reasons, Dnevnik.hr adds.

Split police confirmed to the Croatian portal that a 75-year-old passenger had been arrested, who at around 3:25 p.m., before departure, had told the staff that there was a bomb on the plane, adding that he was not joking. “The plane has been emptied and will be checked again before departure, and passengers and baggage will also be re-checked”, the Split and Dalmatia Police Directorate said.

Shortly after 7 p.m., Split police announced that the counter-sabotage check of the plane, the passengers and the baggage had been carried out. “No explosive device was found in the check, after which the plane with the passengers left the airport. A criminal investigation is under way against the arrested 75-year-old on suspicion of committing the criminal offence of causing a false alarm”, police told Dnevnik.hr.