By Ra'fat Sarah
Sports Editor
Albawaba.com - Amman
The Saudi plane, evacuated in Amman Airport following a false bomb threat, was carrying a soccer team coming to Amman for Asian Cup finals, sources told Albawaba.com.
Al Shabab team is due to encounter the popular Al Wihdat team on Friday.
AFP has reported that the Saudi Airlines that arrived in Amman earlier Thursday on a regular flight from Riyadh was evacuated after authorities were told there was a bomb on board, Jordan's civil aviation director told the agency.
The operations department of Royal Jordanian airlines received an anonymous telephone call a few minutes before the plane landed saying there was a bomb on board, said Jihad Rsheid.
The plane landed at 11:25 am (0925 GMT) at Queen Alia international airport in Amman and "urgent measures were taken for the immediate evacuation of the passengers," Rsheid said.
The airplane was taken to an isolated part of the airport, where security forces and bomb-sniffing dogs were searching the baggage, according to a witness, said the agency.
The sources told Albawaba.com that panic first overwhelmed the passengers, who included a Royal family member, but the authorities assured them later that the alarm was false.
The footballers, who arrived at the Regency Palace Hotel in Amman, were joking about the incident, especially that their celebrated striker, Saeed Oweiran, forgot his mobile phone when he fled the plane for safety.
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