BBC News - RAF Typhoons scrambled after Pakistan Airline incident
RAF Typhoons scrambled after Pakistan Airline incident
RAF Typhoon jets have been launched to investigate an incident involving a civilian aircraft within UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence has said.
A Pakistan International Airlines plane has been diverted from Manchester to Stansted Airport, a Manchester Airport spokesman said.
An Essex Police spokeswoman added: "An incident has occurred on an aircraft. Police and partners are responding."
The BBC understands that the plane has now landed in Stansted.
BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said that police were expected to meet the plane at the airport.
The plane, flight number PK709, reportedly left Lahore at 09:35 local time. It was due in at Manchester at 14:00 BST.
The MoD said responsibility for the incident had now passed to Essex Police and the Home Office. The MoD was not able to say how serious a threat there was on board.
An MoD spokesman said the incident was now a police matter and that "our involvement is over".
He said Typhoon jets could be scrambled after the pilot or crew of a passenger aircraft sends out an emergency signal.
"The purpose of going up is to investigate what the situation is," he said.
"Often when a Quick Reaction Alert aircraft is launched the details are not known, but it is known that a signal has been sent.
"Part of the purpose of sending a Typhoon up is to have a look and see what they can see."
A Pakistan International Airlines spokesman Zufiqar Bijarani told CNN: "We have been told there may have been a bomb threat." But he did not say if he had anything to confirm or deny this.
Stansted Airport said on Twitter that it was operating normally.
Pakistan International Airlines said there were 308 passengers on board, as well as 14 crew including pilots, with a mixture of Pakistani and British passport holders.
'Serious incident'
Philip Baum, of Aviation Security International, told the BBC: "This is certainly a significant incident, however the fact that fighter jets were scrambled to intercept is not unusual.
"We don't know what the incident was: fighter jets are scrambled when there is a bomb threat, when there is a hijack, when the wrong transponder code is used or if an aircraft cannot communicate with the ground. Often the result is when there is an unruly passenger on board.
"What is interesting in this case is that it would appear that the aircraft was only 10 minutes from landing - these are initial reports coming in - when they decided to divert to Stansted. So to actually change a destination 10 minutes from landing would certainly imply that there was some serious incident taking place."
