A pilot on a Air Europa plane has accidentally set off a hijack alarm and sparked a major security alert at Schiphol airport in the Dutch city of Amsterdam.
Dutch military police responded to the “suspicious situation” and evacuated all the passengers on board the parked aircraft on Wednesday evening.
About 27 passengers were reportedly aboard the Airbus A-330 when the alert was signaled. The plane, belonging to Air Europa, was scheduled to fly to Madrid.
Images posted on social media showed parts of the airport’s D-pier cordoned off to the public, with passengers waiting around for information.
Dutch military police confirmed all passengers and staff had been safely evacuated from the Madrid-bound flight.
The incident was described as a GRIP-3 situation, Dutch officials said, meaning an incident or serious event with major consequences to a local population.
Heavily armed officers with the Special Interventions Service have earlier boarded the grounded airplane, and trauma helicopters and ambulances have arrived at the airport.
Minutes after the evacuation, Air Europa announced that the hijacking alert was triggered by mistake. Apologizing for the false alarm, the airline stated that nothing has happened and added that the flight will depart as planned “soon.”
NOS / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
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