Jet Evacuated at Burbank Airport After 'Noncredible' Bomb Remarks

Dec. 20, 2005
A Southwest Airlines jet was evacuated Friday on a taxiway after flight attendants overheard a comment about a bomb, but a search of the plane found nothing.

A Southwest Airlines jet was evacuated Friday on a taxiway after flight attendants overheard a comment about a bomb, but a search of the plane found nothing.

Flight 2074 to Las Vegas departed nearly five hours late after bomb-sniffing dogs searched the plane and found nothing, Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Beth Harbin said.

"Our people are very alert and did what they needed to in this case," she said.

A passenger was arrested for investigation of making false bomb threats, Burbank Airport Police Sgt. Ernest Siy. The man, whom he declined to identify, was held at city jail, Siy said.

The Southwest flight was preparing to take off with about 130 passengers when it halted on the taxiway.

"We saw cop cars pulling up next to us and looking at the plane," passenger Jenny Richman said by cell phone. "Then the officers came on with loaded weapons and escorted several people off."

The passengers evacuated using a mobile staircase brought to the jet's rear door, said Jennifer Peppin, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.

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