Turkish Airlines plane grounded by bomb threat leaves Halifax

Turkish Airlines planeresumed its trip to Istanbul around 6:50 a.m. AT Sundayafter being diverted to Halifax Stanfield International Airport because of a bomb threat.

Five passengers were too afraid to re-board the plane and will have to make their own travel arrangements to getto Turkey.

No explosives werefound on theTurkish Airlines plane, said RCMP.

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Turkish Airlines Flight #2 was travelling from New York City to Istanbul when the threat was made.

RCMPsearched the aircraft and luggage with police service dogs. At 4:25 a.m AT on Sundaythe RCMPcompleted their search and no explosives werefound.

The plane was thenreleased back to Turkish Airlines, said RCMP.

There were 256 passengers and crew memberson board, the Halifax airport tweeted early Sunday morning. There were no injuries.

That didn't stop some passengers from being disturbed by the threat,Fay Liu was one of five passengers who decided not to get back on the plane after it was cleared to leave Halifax.

"I have family and they're concerned and I'm not going because I am concerned, that they're concerned, that's all," she said.

Liu was on her way to Nepal to visit friends, now she simply wants to return to the U.S.

"I want to go home," she told reporters shortly before walking away.

The RCMP said in a series of tweets that the threat came in at 11:50 p.m. AT on Saturday.

"RCMP is looking to establish the origin of the threat and identify the person or persons responsible," one tweet said.

Police said they will not comment on the details of the bomb threat.

Peter Spurway, a spokesperson for the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, said the airport was notified of the diverted flight shortly after midnight. It landed at 12:53 a.m. AT on Sunday.

The passengers disembarked about an hour later and were transported by bus to the terminal, where Spurway said they would be interviewed by the RCMP and processed by the Canada Border Services Agency.

This is the second flight diverted to Halifax due to a bomb threat in less than a week. On Tuesday night, a bomb threat forced Air France Flight 55 to divert to the airport with 262 people aboard.

Police searched the plane and found no explosives. That flight left Halifax on its way to France around 3:45 a.m. AT Thursday morning.

The Halifax Stanfield International Airport is no stranger to hosting planes in trouble. The airport has said it receives a couple of diverted planes every month, or about 20 in the run of a year.

Those planes divert to Nova Scotia for various reasons, including mechanical trouble or medical emergencies.