AMSTERDAM: An airplane pilot accidentally issued a hijack alarm and a major security alert at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Dutch military police tweeted that they were investigating a “suspicious situation” at 19:30 (18:30 GMT).
As police responded to the reported threat, some of the airports, one of the busiest airports in Europe, were closed.
But about an hour later, Air Europa announced that the pilot mistakenly issued an alarm.
“False alert. An alert was activated this afternoon in Amsterdam-Madrid flight, triggering a protocol for accidental airport theft.” Airline tweeted.
“Nothing happened, and every passenger is waiting for a safe and healthy flight. We apologize deeply.”
The Dutch military police confirmed just before the announcement that all passengers and staff had evacuated safely from the flight to Madrid.
Images posted on social media showed that some of the airport’s D-pier were pushed to the public and passengers were waiting for information.
During the flight, the plane landed in another area of the airport, but some emergency flights were made due to the outbreak of emergency services.
Roberto Carrera, 38, landed at the airport with an alarm at around 19:45 local time.
“The demonstration informed me that an event might have occurred,” the BBC said in a telephone interview.
Carrera said he and other passengers flying in Dublin could be trapped and unloaded on the runway for about an hour.
He saw the police at the terminal but described the atmosphere at the airport as being generally calm despite the confusion.
Dutch officials explained that this was a GRIP-3 situation. This meant that it meant an event or serious event that had serious consequences for the locals.
According to regulatory documents released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pilots can use a special transponder beacon code that enters 7500 to raise warnings against illegal interference in case of theft.
Amsterdam Airport is one of the busiest transit centers in Europe and handles over 70 million passengers each year.
(Agencies)
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