Suspicious Object Found in Air France Flight

An Air France flight made an emergency landing at Kenya after a suspicious device was found in one of its toilets

An Air France flight from Mauritius diverted and safely made an emergency landing at Kenya’s port city of Mombasa after its crew alerted its captain to a suspicious device in one of its toilets, Kenya’s head of police said on Sunday.

Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet said on his Twitter account that the Boeing 777 aircraft - headed to Paris - with 459 passengers and a 14 member crew was safely evacuated after it landed at Moi International Airport at 12:37 a.m. on Sunday.

Bomb experts from the Navy and DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigations) have retrieved the device and are determining whether the components contained explosives.

Joseph Boinnet, Police Inspector General

Air France said in a statement that as a precaution, all passengers were evacuated from the aircraft by its emergency slides.

The airline said it was sending another plane to Mombasa to fly passengers to Paris. “This Mombasa-Paris flight is scheduled to leave in the late afternoon,” it said.

Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority said flights from Mombasa airport were disrupted due to the emergency landing.

Air France said it would hold a news conference in Paris at 1430 GMT. The airline declined further comment on the investigation.