Suspect bomb on Air France flight to Paris is examined

Authorities in Kenya are examining a suspect package that forced an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris to make an emergency landing in Kenya. 

Air France flight 463 from Mauritius to Paris was forced to land in Mombasa after a device suspected to be a bomb was found in the lavatory. Photograph: EPA

Passengers questioned after aircraft makes emergency landing in Kenya

Kenyan authorities are investigating the nature of a suspect device found in a toilet aboard an Air France flight from Mauritius that made an emergency landing at Kenya’s port city of Mombasa, its interior minister said on Sunday.

Joseph Nkaisserry told reporters at Mombasa’s Moi International Airport that Kenyan authorities were working with their French and Mauritian counterparts to determine the nature of the device.

The plane was carrying 459 passengers and 14 crew members and had left Mauritius at 01:00 GMT, Mr Owino said.

It had been due to fly directly to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

One of those on board, Benoit Lucchini, said passengers were calm and were told by the crew that the plane was being diverted because of a technical problem.

"The plane just went down, slowly, slowly, slowly, so we just realised probably, something was wrong," he said.

"But the personnel of Air France were just great, just wonderful. So they keep everybody calm and really quiet."

“We are in touch with Mauritius to know how security screening of passengers was done. A few passengers are being interrogated,” he said.

“Bomb experts from the Navy and DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigations) have retrieved the device and are determining whether the components contained explosives,” Insp Boinnet said.

Air France said in a statement that as a precaution, all passengers were evacuated from the aircraft by its emergency slides.  The airline said it was working to re-route is passengers and was sending another plane to Mombasa to fly them to Paris.

“This Mombasa - Paris flight is scheduled to leave in the late afternoon of Sunday, December 20th,” it said.

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said on its Twitter account that flights from Mombasa airport were disrupted due to the emergency landing. 

France is still on high alert following bomb attacks and shootings in Paris last month that killed 130 people.  So-called Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attacks in response to France's military action in Syria. - Reuters