Bomb threats forced two Air France flights bound for Paris to be diverted Tuesday night.
An Air France jet from Los Angeles International Airport landed in Salt Lake City, and another flight from Washington Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Air France said.
The flights were “subjects of anonymous threats received by phone after takeoff,” Air France spokesperson Christophe Paumier said.
Air France said it requested the planes land as a precaution. “Local authorities are carrying out complete inspections of the aircraft, the passengers and their luggage,” the airline said.
The incidents come amid heightened fears of terrorism after the deadly attacks in Paris on Friday, which killed 129 people.
A passenger on the flight from Los Angeles, Keith Rosso, told NBC News that about two hours into the flight, as they were having a meal in business class, flight attendants hurriedly grabbed plates and announced the plane was making an emergency landing.
Buses were waiting when the plane arrived in Salt Lake City, and passengers were taken to another location, he said. A person who said they were with the FBI told passengers they would be interviewing passengers about an “unsafe flying condition,” Rosso said.
#AirFrance confirms that both flights #AF055 from Washington #IAD and #AF065 from Los Angeles #LAX landed safely. pic.twitter.com/m5mMBxoAsU
— Air France Newsroom (@AFnewsroom) November 18, 2015Air France Flight 55 from Washington Dulles had 234 people aboard, and Flight 65 from Los Angeles had 473 aboard, Paumier said. Flight 55 was a Boeing 777 and Flight 65 was an Airbus 380.
The FBI in Salt Lake City said it was one of several law enforcement agencies responding. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it was using police dogs trained to detect explosives to sweep the plane that landed at Halifax at around 10:15 p.m. local time (9:15 p.m. ET). RELATED: Police hunt 9th attacker as surveillance shows 2 gunmen Earlier Tuesday, there was a security scare aboard a London-to-Boston British Airways flight after a woman allegedly tried to open the plane’s emergency exit door mid-flight, officials said. Massachusetts State Police said in a statement Tuesday that the passenger “was intoxicated” and there was no link to terrorism. Russian officials confirmed Tuesday that a passenger jet that crashed in Egypt Oct. 31 was brought down by a bomb. The terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for that crash, which killed all 224 people on board. This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.Recommended
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Cynthia Miller-Idriss is an author and expert on extremism.