RCMP investigating threat to Toronto-bound WestJet plane

WestJet flight WS442, from Edmonton to Toronto, is seen after being diverted to Winnipeg International Airport Monday, June 29, 2015.

The RCMP said it responded to a threat on a Toronto-bound WestJet plane by sending officers and a canine unit to the aircraft after it was forced to divert and land in Winnipeg.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Winnipeg RCMP said members of the airport detachment and the RCMP Explosives Canine Unit were called to assist the plane just before 8:30 p.m. Monday night.

Manitoba RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Bert Paquet would not comment on the nature of the threat. He told CTVNews.ca that the canine unit is sent as part of a set of procedures enacted whenever a plane is evacuated.

The RCMP dogs are sent to search for any possible explosives or other prohibited items on the aircraft or in the passengers' luggage, Paquet said. No explosives or items of concern were located on the diverted WestJet flight, he added.

He said police are now focusing on trying to identify the origin of a threatening call, which was not made to the RCMP.

Passengers used emergency slides and the wings of the aircraft to evacuate WestJet flight WS442, from Edmonton to Toronto, after it landed in Winnipeg due to an unspecified threat.

After landing, all 54 passengers and five crew members were evacuated from the Boeing 737-700 aircraft. The airline would not specify the nature of the threat.

Six people were injured during the evacuation process, with some being taken to hospital for treatment. None of the injuries are life-threatening, WestJet said in a statement.

The passengers were released and put up in nearby hotels after the police interviews, the company said. The passengers will continue on their way to Toronto on Tuesday.

The diversion forced another WestJet flight, WS304, to divert to Brandon, Man., the company said on Twitter.

Passenger Joel Gupta, who was aboard the diverted flight, said that the passengers weren't given any information about the threat that caused the plane to divert.

But once the plane landed at the airport, passengers were suddenly rushed off the aircraft, he told CTV Winnipeg.

"All of a sudden they made an emergency evacuation warning and said, 'Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate,'" he said. "Everybody rushed to the doors and jumped off the plane; either went down the slide or slid down the wing."

He said eventually the passengers were transported to the airport terminal, where they were taken to hotels for the night.

Another passenger, Damon Thorne, said it didn't take long to evacuate the plane because it wasn't a full flight.

"Luckily, we only had 54 passengers on board. It would have been much worse with a full plane," he said.

Both passengers praised the flight crew for the way they handled the situation. “I think they did a really good job,” Gupta said.

The diversion and evacuation is the third incident of its kind to have occurred in the last week.

On Saturday, a WestJet flight from Edmonton to Halifax landed in Saskatoon due to a bomb threat.

Last Thursday, a bomb threat on an Air Canada flight from St. John's to Ottawa forced the St. John's airport to temporarily shut down. Nothing suspicious was found in either of those cases.

With files from CTV Winnipeg and The Canadian Press