Its Boeing 777-200 was diverted at around 7:40 a.m. Korean time when the airline’s U.S. call center received the threat by phone 25 minutes after it departed from Vancouver, a company spokesperson said from Seoul. A Korean Air spokesperson in Los Angeles said the caller warned that an explosive was aboard the airliner.

All the 134 passengers and 12 crew members landed safely at the Comox air base on the east coast of Vancouver Island, some 182 kilometers northwest of the city, the Korean official added.

“We decided to turn the plane around after receiving a threat call for the safety of the passengers,” the spokesperson said.

“Officials there are searching the plane currently and we will return to normal operations shortly after the safety check.”

The official did not give an exact timeframe for the flight’s resumption, saying discussion was under way.

The flight was escorted by two U.S. F-15 fighter jets that had been scrambled from Portland, according to Canadian officials.

They added that another jet on the same flight out of Vancouver faced a similar threat by phone Monday, prompting a two-hour search.

The threats come as carriers including Korean Air, Japan Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Delta Airlines are jostling to alter some of their routes to avoid a rocket North Korea plans to launch sometime between Thursday and Monday.

Seoul and its other Asian counterparts have instructed their ships and airplanes to reroute in advance of the launch. The early stages of the rocket are forecast to fall in the West Sea, off South Korea’s southwestern coast, and in the South China Sea near the Philippines.



By Shin Hyon-hee
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)