Air India Flight Turns Around After Suspicious Package Found

Nope, it wasn't a bomb. But the flight crew aboard Air India flight 188 from Toronto to Birmingham, England, didn't know that late Monday night when they returned to the airport in Toronto.

This, after a passenger reported a suspicious package in one of the lavatories. An hour into the flight, a passenger notified the crew of a package in the bathroom. Shortly before midnight, the aircraft was moved to an isolated area of Toronto's Pearson International airport.

The Canadian Press reports police evacuated the 160 passengers and crew without incident, before bomb sniffing dogs from the Toronto Police Department were let onboard the Boeing 777.

They indicated the package was probably not a bomb, before the bomb-disposal unit removed it. A detailed search of the aircraft turned up no other suspicious items.

Flight 188's passengers all underwent a friendly police interview, and got a free night in a local hotel for their trouble.

Under x-ray examination, police determined the package was not an explosive device... but rather a set of tools that were, in their words, "uniquely packaged."

They blew the package and the tools up anyway, just in case. So far, no one knows where the package came from or how it got on the aircraft.

FMI: www.airindia.com