No explosives found on Cleveland plane

by Paul Singer
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - No explosives were found aboard a Delta flight from Boston that was forced to land at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport because of fears it had been hijacked, city officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration had been informed at 9:45 a.m. of a possible hijacking of a plane headed for Cleveland, said FBI spokesman Mark Bullock.

Flight 1989 to Los Angeles was not hijacked but was grounded by Delta because it was in the same flight pattern as a plane that was hijacked and struck the World Trade Center in New York, Bullock said.

The plane landed about 10:45 a.m. today with 78 passengers aboard, airport officials said.

The Boeing 767 was evacuated and searched, said Della Homenik, spokeswoman for Mayor Michael R. White. Passengers were taken to a nearby NASA facility.

FBI spokesman Bob Hawk said that since the Delta plane left Boston about the same time as the hijacked plane, passengers were being interviewed to see if they saw anything unusual this morning.

After the plane landed, the airport was closed and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought to baggage pickup areas.

Meanwhile, White said a second airplane in distress had passed through Cleveland airspace Tuesday morning before being handed off to Toledo.

Officials at Toledo Express Airport did not immediately have any information about the plane.