1:10am UK, Monday September 27, 2004

An Olympic airliner carrying more than 300 people has made an emergency landing at Stansted Airport, after reports there might be a bomb on board.         

The Ministry of Defence has described the incident as a "major security alert".

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An Olympic Airways jet

Tornado jets escorted the New York-bound passenger jet into Stansted Airport after the bomb alert.   

All passengers were evacuated safely following the "full emergency landing" at 3.30pm on Sunday with fire engines, ambulance crews and police at the scene.   

The alert came after a Greek daily newspaper, Ethnos, received an anonymous telephone warning.  

According to a tape, the caller said: "Flight 411 Olympic for America has a bomb for Iraq."  

In a second call, a voice that sounded like a different person said: "Are you listening? Flight 411 Olympic for America, bomb. America will see. Six o'clock message for you."  

Police sources in Greece said authorities immediately notified the pilot, who asked for a military escort.  

Leonard Vlamis, chief executive of Olympic Airways, said the captain and authorities in the UK and the US were notified of the threat.  

"We were told to land at Stansted which it did safely," he said.  

"The passengers were calm and they were evacuated properly and safely. There was no problem inside the flight - everything was normal."  

Police explosive experts are still searching the plane.