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Alitalia plane takes off after Cairo bomb scare
Wednesday, 17. February 2010, 23:11
CAIRO (AFP) – An Alitalia flight from Cairo was delayed almost two hours on Wednesday as 157 passengers, including Egypt's tourism minister, were evacuated because of a bomb scare, airport security officials said.
They said the Rome flight was cleared for takeoff, with Tourism Minister Zuheir Garana back on board, after a search was carried out of the plane, passengers and luggage without finding any explosives.
The alarm was raised after an anonymous telephone call saying a bomb was on board. The passengers were taken to the transit hall and the plane driven away from the boarding gates.
Security has been tightened at Cairo airport, especially for direct flights to New York, after a Nigerian suspected of ties to Al-Qaeda allegedly tried to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25.
The measures include multiple checks on luggage and body searches.
Cairo airport is a hub for international flights, with millions of tourists each year visiting Egypt, the scene of a spate of militant attacks against tourists between 2004 and 2006 that targeted hotels in the Sinai peninsula.
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