Amsterdam (dpa) - A major security operation was unleashed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday evening over a false alarm that an Air Europa plane had been hijacked.
The Spanish airline tweeted that "a warning that triggers protocols on hijackings" had been activated by mistake on a plane that was due to fly to Madrid.
"Nothing has happened, all passengers are safe and sound waiting to fly soon," the airline tweeted. "We deeply apologize."
Dutch police also confirmed that the passengers and crew were safe.
A spokesman for Air Europa told dpa that there had been a "technical error."
Citing police sources, Dutch broadcaster NOS had earlier reported that the pilot had set off the warning during the boarding procedure. According to television channels, 27 passengers were supposed to have been on board.
The take-off ban issued for part of the airport was due to be lifted again on Wednesday evening, NOS reported.
The Spanish airport management company AENA said that the affected UX1094 flight from Amsterdam to Madrid originally scheduled to land at 9:55 pm (2055 GMT) was now expected to land around 11:50 pm.
According to the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper, the flight was supposed to take off for Madrid around 7 pm.
The newspaper reported that a heavily armed special police commando had taken part in the operation at the airport.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at a party event in the east of the Netherlands that he hoped that "the situation will turn out all right," according to Dutch media reports.
———
©2019 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)
Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
