No Explosives Were Found On Board

 Air France flight 443 ... a 747 en route from Rio to Paris with 405 passengers and 18 crew on board ... was diverted to the city of Recife when a bomb threat was phoned into Rio International Airport approximately 30 minutes after the airplane's departure on Saturday.

A voice described as female told authorities there was a bomb on the plane, and the crew was contacted and made the precautionary landing in Recife. Everyone was safely evacuated from the aircraft, and an extensive search did not turn up any explosives on board, according to Air France spokesperson Jerome N'Guyen. The airport at Recife was closed for about 30 minutes.

The Associated Press reports that the plane's departure from Recife was delayed due to crew rest issues. The passengers were taken to nearby hotels to stay the night. The plane departed Recife late Sunday and continued on to Paris without further incident. The plane was flying the same route as the Air France flight which went down in June of last year in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 229 people on board. That crash remains under investigation, but authorities have all insisted that terrorism was not the cause of the crash.

FMI: www.airfrance.com