3 planes make emergency landings in South America over bomb threats: reports

Three flights were forced to make emergency landings after Chilean officials reported receiving several bomb threats on Thursday.

The planes made landings in Chile and Peru following the telephoned threats, Reuters reported citing Chilean aviation officials. The news agency initially reported four flights landed in three countries before revising the numbers.

According to a press release from LATAM Airlines, a passenger plane was traveling to Santiago, Chile, when it received a bomb threat at around 2:48 p.m. LATAM flight 2369 landed over an hour later at Pisco International Airport where authorities were alerted to the scene. An explosive unit also was sent out.

“The passengers are being transported by land to the city of Lima, Peru and there, they will be routed to their final destination with the airline,” a translation of the press release reads.

There were no immediate reports of injuries on the LATAM flight 2369. A team for deactivating explosives, meantime, has been notified, the ministry said, adding that “right now the situation is under control.”

Two planes operated by Chile-based Sky Airlines bound for Rosario, Argentina, and the northern Chilean city of Calama returned to Santiago without incident.

Chile's civil aviation agency says all three planes were inspected and it was determined there were no explosives on board. There were no immediate details about the threats except that they were phoned in.