United flight to LA diverted to Chicago due to bomb threat

CHICAGO (CBS)– A flight traveling to Los Angeles International Airport was diverted to Chicago after a bomb threat Wednesday morning. 

United Flight 1533, with 202 passengers, took off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 6:05 a.m. and landed at O’Hare Airport at 7:44 a.m. Chicago time. 

Police confirmed the passengers were evacuated, and the plane was being searched at a remote location at O’Hare Airport.  

According to a preliminary police report, a note was found in the bathroom stating the plane would blow up. CBS 2 has learned that a bomb-sniffing K-9 found one suspicious bag, and a robot was deployed to move it away. Police are questioning the passenger who checked that bag. 

An airline source said the dog connected a scent from the threatening note and the bag. 

The FBI is investigating. 

A passenger on the flight told CBS 2 that he boarded a bus with police and was being taken back to the airport terminal. He said passenger’s bags are being checked. 

“They are taking us back to a terminal I guess they will go through bags, maybe question us,” the passenger said. “We were forced to leave all of our stuff on the plane and have no idea what is happening next.”

“I would say two hours in they said we were making an emergency  landing in Chicago, they didn’t say why,” another passenger told CBS 2. “We couldn’t get out of our seats so when they landed they said that someone had written on the mirror in one of the bathrooms that there was a bomb.” 

He said he took a bus to the airport terminal and had to leave everything on the plane. He said the flight was rescheduled for noon Chicago time. 

On Tuesday, passengers on an American Airlines plane tackled a man who tried to open a door during a flight from Albuquerque to Chicago.