Rio-Paris Air France flight emergency lands after bomb hoax

AFP - An Air France jumbo jet with 405 passengers on board, en route to Paris, landed in Recife on Brazil's Atlantic coast overnight after a hoax bomb alert, the airline said on Sunday.
   
"The crew of flight AF 443 Rio-Paris was informed during the flight that there could be an explosive device on board," Air France said in a statement.
   
The pilot landed in Recife where "the aeroplane was inspected by the authorities," but no bomb was found, it said.
   
All passengers left the plane during the search and were put up in hotels in Recife while they waited for the flight to resume.
   
The Boeing 747 was expected to take off again on Sunday evening and was due to land at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Monday morning, the airline said.
   
It said the plane had a crew of three pilots and 15 flight attendants.
   
An Air France Airbus A330 crashed off Brazil en route for Paris on June 1 last year, killing all 228 people on board.
   
The crash was the worst in Air France's 75-year-history.