United Airlines flight from Denver safely lands at Dulles after bomb threat

A United Airlines flight coming from Denver landed safely at Dulles International Airport Monday morning after a reported bomb threat, according to officials.

Before departing from Denver International Airport, “United flight 2408 deplaned safely via airstairs due to a security concern,” according to a Dulles statement. Two hundred passengers and seven crew members were on the plane.

Passengers say they were kept on the plane for a long period of time and at one point law enforcement came on board. The plane was taken to the fire station on the tarmac and was searched.

“The aircraft was screened and cleared and passengers are back at the gate where we have provided them with food and water,” the statement said.

After the plane was cleared, the flight landed at Dulles at about 4:30 a.m. Monday morning.

“Fire trucks, police cars, all types of cars, people in bulletproof vests and helmets and everything, they came on the plane and yeah, it was very strange,” one passenger said. “We weren’t really told anything but no one was freaking out.”

Another passenger said she was confident that the flight attendants and pilots were calm and reassured the passengers that everything was going to be OK.

“Some people were very nervous, but we had the attitude of it’s probably one of the safest planes to be on right now after they had swept the whole thing,” the passenger said.

Others told News4 they were considering getting another flight to Dulles but ultimately stayed on the same flight since the plane was cleared.