False threat delays Amman-bound flight from Kuwait

AMMAN – A Kuwait Airways flight that was set to take off from Kuwait to Jordan was delayed on Saturday after a passenger shouted a false threat, the company said in a statement carried by the official news agency of the Gulf state.

The company said that security personnel at the airport had to deplane passengers on board its 561 Flight heading to Amman and to re-inspect all luggages after the passenger “was screaming in a threatening way”.

The statement, carried by Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, said the passenger was held by security forces. The identity and the nationality of the passenger were not identified in the airliner's statement. 

Later in the day, the flight departed to Amman, said the company, which indicated that the threat was false as no explosives were detected in the airplane. 

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, said that 230 passengers were on-board of the flight. 

An official at the Kuwaiti interior ministry told Petra that security conditions in the region prompted security personnel to evacuate all passengers and re-inspect their luggages as precautionary measures.