CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuela grounded an Air France flight late Saturday after being tipped off by French authorities that a terrorist group might be planning to detonate an explosive device in midair.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told state TV that a team of more than 60 technicians and bomb experts were performing an exhaustive search of the aircraft that would take several hours before the flight could be reprogrammed.
Passengers on Flight 385 to Paris scheduled to depart at 7:25 p.m. local time Saturday were prevented from boarding after French authorities received information from a credible source that a terrorist group is seeking to place a bomb aboard an unspecified flight between the two cities.
"We don't want to speculate on the motives because the information comes directly from French intelligence services," Rodriguez Torres said, adding that the information is still being processed and it is unclear whether the targeted flight would depart from Caracas or Paris.
Stranded passengers said they were preparing to board when they were told that the flight was being delayed so that the Airbus A340-300 aircraft could be checked. No reason was given.