Passengers at Gibraltar Airport were evacuated from an Easyjet aircraft after a suspicious package was found on the plane due to depart for the UK.
Military explosives experts began investigation into the suspect piece found on the Airbus A319 plane that had 156 passengers and six crew on board, reports BBC News.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
As reported in the BBC, the airport remained closed for more than two hours before police announced that the situation is under control.
The flight to London Gatwick left the airport three hours later.
Easyjet said that the delay was due to a technical issue, which resulted in putrid smell of smoke.
Passenger Gillie Harvey was quoted by the BBC as saying: "There was a strange smell coming from the hold and a sniffer dog went into the hold while we were still on board the plane."
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataHarvey added that the passengers were moved to a secure area in the airport and were informed that their luggage would be offloaded and rescreened.
The traffic in and out of Gibraltar’s border was stopped, while businesses in the area were also evacuated.
A British Airways flight from Heathrow that was supposed to arrive in Gibraltar was diverted to Malaga while the investigation was in progress.
