Air France says investigators are working to confirm whether the package found on Flight 463 contained explosives.
The Boeing 777 was heading to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Mauritius when its pilots requested an emergency landing at 12:37 a.m. Sunday in the Kenyan city of Mombasa.
Kenyan authorities said the suspected device was found in one of the plane’s lavatories, AP reported.
The Air France spokeswoman, who refused to disclose name because of the ongoing investigation, said local authorities were also interviewing passengers. The airline has sent a substitute plane to pick up the passengers.
After getting off the plane, a passenger on Flight 463 said everything was calm and passengers thought there was simply a technical problem as their flight to Paris was being diverted to the Kenyan city of Mombasa.
The Kenya Airports Authority said what is “believed to be an explosive device has successfully been retrieved” from an Air France flight. Police spokesman Charles Owino said all of the plane’s 459 passengers and 14 crew were safely evacuated and bomb experts are studying the device.
