Turkish Airlines flight from New York diverts to Canada after bomb threat

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says it is investigating a bomb threat that caused a Turkish Airlines flight from New York City to Istanbul to divert and land in Canada.

Halifax Stanfield International Airport said on its Twitter feed early today that Flight 2 had landed safely and that police were at the scene.

DIVERSION Turkish #TK2 diverting to #Halifax. Authorities awaiting aircraft. Planning to isolate on landing. pic.twitter.com/HnifuHlbwm

- Tom Podolec CTV News (@TomPodolec) November 22, 2015

Update DIVERSION Turkish #TK2 diverted to Halifax. Aircraft is stop in remote area of airport at Rwy 23/Taxiway Alpha. Authorities on scene

- Publimetros (@publimetros) November 22, 2015

The airport's tweet says 256 people were on board. The RCMP in Nova Scotia said on its Twitter feed that it would not comment on the details of the bomb threat and was looking to identify the person or persons responsible.

It added that police will be "searching the Turkish Airlines plane using police dogs trained in explosives." The RCMP said the bomb threat was received at 10:50 pm local time. Flight tracking sites show the flight had already taken off from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York by then.

Last Tuesday night, Air France Flight 55 from Dulles International Airport outside Washington was diverted to Halifax after an anonymous bomb threat was phoned in after the plane had taken off. An FBI statement late Tuesday said authorities had investigated and found no credible threat, and the RCMP said investigators found no evidence of an explosive device.

Update: #TK2 diverting to Halifax due to a threat made against the aircraft. https://t.co/CcBPY9WlKH pic.twitter.com/dasGRm8K2w

- Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) November 22, 2015

That threat came after the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and heightened security concerns worldwide.

AFP via PTI