Burlington International Airport in Vermont was shut down for about three hours Sunday after a bomb threat note was found in the bathroom of a United Airlines flight.
The pilot notified air traffic control that a threat was found in one of the plane’s bathrooms about 20 minutes before it was set to land, according to MyNBC5.
The flight, which took off from Newark earlier in the day, was directed to a separate area on the tarmac, where it was searched with bomb-sniffing dogs as part of the emergency response, Burlington police said.
State senate president pro tem Phil Baruth, who was aboard the flight, said the 65 passengers were allowed off the plane after about two hours and taken to a hangar.
“They isolated us with police at both ends and they don’t know whether one of us could be a bad actor, so that doesn’t feel great,” he told WCAX-TV.
During the investigation, the airport was closed for about three hours, but no incoming flights were canceled.
Investigators determined there was no credible threat to the plane.
“What we have here is a safe group of people. We have a safe plane. We have a safe airport. We have procedures that were followed and we have a successful outcome,” said Jon Murad, acting chief of the Burlington Police Department.
No injuries or arrests were reported and the airport was reopened for all air traffic at 7:30 p.m.
A spokesperson for the airport said that most of the passengers were reunited with their luggage by Monday morning. The spokesperson added the FBI was leading the investigation.
With News Wire Services
