London-bound plane forced to make emergency landing after lone mobile phone sparks terror alert

A PLANE bound for London has been forced to make an emergency landing after an unclaimed mobile phone was found on board.

It’s believed the phone was left behind by a previous passenger.

A LONDON-BOUND passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing after cabin crew found an unclaimed mobile phone on board.

The device was found mid-flight by a distressed air hostess in the toilet cubicle.

Nobody claimed it when cabin crew made the announcement and the pilot then requested permission to land, The Sun reports.

The Turkish Airlines flight stopped at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport after taking off from Istanbul.

The Boeing 777 — containing 300 concerned passengers — made an emergency landing and a security sweep was carried out.

However, nothing suspicious was found and staff concluded the phone must have been left on board by a previous passenger before the plane took off at 8.34am on Thursday, the Daily Sabah reports.

The Turkish Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Belgrade.

A Turkish Airlines spokesman said: “At the termination of the relevant security progress, no suspicious issue has been detected and the aircraft has continued to its original destination.”

The airline had earlier said: “The aircraft operating the Istanbul-London flight of Turkish Airlines has diverted to Belgrade and landed at Nikola Tesla Airport, due to an unattended cell phone found on-board.”

“The relevant security procedure has started.”

The scare comes just a week after EgyptAir flight MS804 plunged into the sea with 66 people on board.

An international search team is looking for the main body of the plane and working to retrieve the flight data recorders in a bid to establish the cause of the disaster.

Another plane, this one full of British holiday-makers, had to make a terrifying emergency landing after the captain reportedly smelt smoke in the cockpit just days ago.

Flight EZY8704 took off from Tenerife at 12.41pm Tuesday afternoon.

Just one hour into its three hour and ten minute flight, the plane was diverted to a remote island.

The A320 jet was the same model as the EgyptAir craft that crashed last week.

There were several British children on board as the plane began its steep descent and one woman began panicking and hyperventilating.

The captain told passengers after landing safely he had smelt burning and requested an immediate emergency landing.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.