Suspicious wires were found on a Delta Flight that was heading to Kennedy Airport. Click below for more information.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility someone was putting together an explosive device when wires were found about a Spain-bound Delta flight, forcing an emergency landing, a law enforcement official said Friday.
Delta Flight 126 turned around about an hour into its flight Thursday night and landed safely at Kennedy Airport.
No bomb was found and none of the 277 passengers were arrested.
Inside the bathroom, however, air marshals found two suspicious wires — one on the toilet and one in the sink — and each fed through a two-inch long dark-colored straw.
The wiring was stripped at both ends.
The investigators believe the wiring could have been the beginnings of a bomb.
The wires on one end of the straw, the official said, could be affixed to a battery, with the other end tied to an explosive.
“There is the possibility somebody was interrupted,’’ the official said.
When police first arrived on the scene they questioned an Argentinian woman who was having trouble breathing.
Investigators ruled out the possibility she was faking illness as a diversion.
They also interviewed a Pakistani-born passenger who was believed to be the last person in the bathroom.
A U.S. citizen for 11 years, he denied any knowledge of the wires and was let go.
The shaken passengers boarded a later flight, though it was not clear if any of them left the airport and never returned.
