Police respond to unfounded bomb threat at Vancouver International Airport

YVR is seen from CTV's Chopper 9 on Monday, June 4, 2018. (Pete Cline / CTV Vancouver)

A flight departing Vancouver International Airport was delayed Sunday as police searched the plane for explosives following a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded.

The Richmond RCMP says police were made aware of the situation around noon. Emails containing the threats from an unknown sender were sent to YVR staff and a local news outlet.

“The RCMP and YVR took the threat seriously and conducted a complete sweep to the affected flight, but found no credible evidence of any bomb on the plane,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Brett Urano, in a statement.

“Airport operations were minimally affected and only the flight in question was delayed. The RCMP takes threats like this seriously and believes these emails were a ‘swatting’ call.”

Mounties are investigating the incident and asked anyone with information to call the Richmond detachment at 604-278-1212 and reference police file number 2025-14689.

“We would like to thank YVR staff and the responding officers for their actions and for ensuring the safety all the passengers and flight crews,” Urano said.

Around the same time Sunday, Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver was briefly evacuated and shut down after threats of an explosive device at the transit hub.

The SkyTrain and SeaBus resumed service after about an hour, during which police used explosive detecting dogs and a drone to search the area, but ultimately nothing suspicious was found.