IRELAND: United Airlines Flight From Rome To Chicago Diverted To Ireland After Threat Onboard

A United Airlines flight from Rome to Chicago was diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland on Monday after a threat message was discovered on board, Irish police said.

The message referred to a bomb on the plane.

The 207 passengers and 11 crew members disembarked the Boeing Co. 767-330 at Shannon Airport at 2:15 p.m (1315 GMT), according to Jim Molloy, a representative of Ireland's police force.

The passengers of flight UA971 were in the process of being searched, he said in an emailed statement.

He gave no further details about the nature of the threat.

United said in a statement that the landing was due to a potential security concern but declined to comment further.

After assessing the situation our crew made the decision to divert to the nearest available airport, it said.

Additional security screenings will be performed on all customers and baggage, and we will work to get customers on their way to Chicago as quickly as possible.

A message had been discovered in the plane's toilet claiming that there was a bomb on board.

After passengers disembarked, police began taking handwriting samples in an effort to find out who wrote the message.

Baggage from the flight was examined as well.


Tourism Observer

IRELAND: Identical Strangers Meet On Ryanair Flight.

A man met his doppelgänger on a Ryanair flight to Shannon Airport.

Neil Thomas Douglas and his ‘twin stranger’ Robert Stirling found themselves sitting together on the flight and couldn't believe the resemblance. The two took a selfie together and a friend of Douglas's wife posted the image to social media.

The image was uploaded by Lee Beattie, who wrote: “Guy on right is the husband of my friend. Guy on left is a STRANGER he met on a flight last night!”

The two men would encounter one another again when they checked into the same hotel in Galway and yet again when they bumped into each other in a pub.

Everybody at the pub believed they were twin brothers.

Neil said: "Later that night, I went to the pub and again, there was my twin. Total weirdness.

"We had a laugh and a pint."

People on social media users have commented on the uncanny likeness, with social media users calling it “spooky.”