Virgin Atlantic have evacuated a flight from Dubai to Heathrow as a “precautionary measure” following a bomb threat.
“Our customers travelling on the VS401 from Dubai to London Heathrow have temporarily disembarked the aircraft for additional security checks,” a spokesman told the International Business Times.
“This is purely as a precautionary measure as the safety of our customers and crew is our number one priority and we’re planning to have everyone on their way as quickly as possible.”
Passengers have reportedly been advised they must undergo full body scans before reembarking, although some are said to demanding a change of flight.
“We were just moving and then the captain called his flight crew immediately and they all ran up the front,” a passenger told MailOnline. “Ten minutes later we were told to get off.”
They described how “the captain just came out and said Virgin take[s] the safety of passengers very seriously – following the events in Manchester, Virgin had received a bomb threat so as [a] precaution they have asked everyone to leave the plane.”
Late on Monday night, a suicide bomber targeted concert-goers – including many young girls – leaving the Manchester Arena.
Eyewitnesses reported “there were bodies scattered about everywhere”, and police have reported 22 dead and 59 injured so far.