Amsterdam Airport Schiphol reopened after hijacking scare and bomb threat

GlobalPost

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol reopened late Wednesday after a double scare involving a reported hijacking and the discovery of a WWII-era bomb found on the site.

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According to Agence France-Presse, two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled over what turned out to be a "miscommunication" about a possible hijacking of a Vueling flight.

The plane, carrying 180 passengers from Malaga to Amsterdam, entered Dutch airspace without making radio contact.

The Dutch warplanes intercepted the Spanish airliner while authorities sent security forces to surround it on the tarmac at Schiphol.

Reuters quoted military police spokesman Martijn Peelen as saying: "After the negotiator spoke to the captain we were certain there were no hijackers on the plane."

Earlier, a 550-pound unexploded German bomb had been uncovered during construction work near Terminal C, which handles flights to most major European destinations, according to Reuters.

According to the BBC, Schiphol was used by Nazi Germany as a military airfield during WWII.

The bomb was removed for safe detonation, the BBC reported, but not before the terminal that serves most destinations within Europe's 26-country passport-free Schengen zone was evacuated.

A handful of flights from one of Europe's busiest transport hubs was canceled, while several dozen were delayed Wednesday morning.

Separately, a 1.5-tonne mortar bomb "probably fired by Nazi forces" was safely removed from a location in Warsaw, Poland, the BBC wrote.

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