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Schiphol airport: Dutch police probing 'suspicious situation' on plane Schiphol airport: False alarm causes Amsterdam security alert
(32 minutes later)
Dutch police say they are investigating a "suspicious situation" on board a plane at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. A false report of an airline hijacking sparked a large police response on board a plane at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday evening.
Images posted on social media showed parts of the airport's D-pier cordoned off to the public. Flights are still landing at other parts of the airport. Dutch police tweeted at about 19:30 (18:30 GMT) that they were investigating a "suspicious situation".
An hour after the first reports, police said the passengers and crew were now safely off the aircraft. Part of the airport, which is one of Europe's busiest, was closed to passengers as officials investigated.
The nature of the incident has not been confirmed and police say the investigation is ongoing. But after people were evacuated from the plane, Air Europa announced a pilot had accidentally set off an alert.
"False alarm. In the flight Amsterdam-Madrid this afternoon was activated, by mistake, a warning that triggers protocols on hijackings at the airport," the airline tweeted.
"Nothing has happened, all passengers are safe and sound waiting to fly soon. We deeply apologize."
Amid the panic, images posted on social media showed parts of the airport's D-pier cordoned off to the public.
Flights still landed at other parts of the airport during the disruption, but some emergency services were called to the tarmac.
The incident was described as a GRIP-3 situation, Dutch officials said, meaning an incident or serious event with major consequences to a local population.The incident was described as a GRIP-3 situation, Dutch officials said, meaning an incident or serious event with major consequences to a local population.
One journalist at the scene tweeted images showing emergency vehicles on the airport's tarmac.
Other photographs showed passengers caught up in the disruption waiting around the terminal area awaiting further information.
Schiphol is one of the busiest transport hubs in Europe, handling more than 70 million passengers a year.Schiphol is one of the busiest transport hubs in Europe, handling more than 70 million passengers a year.