Bomb Scare After Note Found

Southwest Airlines Flight 21 was isolated on the runway at Hobby International Airport Friday and passengers were evacuated one-by-one after one of them found a threatening note on board the 737.

"A note was found on board that aircraft by a passenger and the note said something specifically to the effect that there is a bomb on the aircraft," said Al Tribble, with the Houston-area office of the FBI, in an interview with KPRC Television.

Flight 21 from Dallas, carrying 136 passengers and five crewmembers, landed safely on Hobby's Runway 12 and was immediately quarantined. It taxied to a remote area where it was surrounded by law enforcement vehicles and emergency medical units. About an hour after the flight landed, law officers escorted passengers from the aircraft one at a time.

"They want to take account of who was on the plane and try to narrow down exactly who and where this note originated from," Tribble said. "The bottom line is, we have to rule out that terrorism isn't a cause of this note."

As passengers were questioned in the terminal, a bomb-sniffing Houston Police K-9 unit went over the aircraft and the luggage on board.

No bomb was found.

FMI: www.tsa.gov