An Air France flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Johannesburg, South Africa was forced to declare an emergency and turn around 45 minutes into its journey, after crew discovered that two passengers were missing.
Crew onboard the Boeing A380 triggered the security alert after realising that the passenger list and baggage did not match - with four bags loaded without their owners.
Flight AF990A which was scheduled to fly at 11:30 p.m. last night, had been delayed by technical issues until 9:30 a.m. this morning before the mid-air emergency.
According to AirLive the four bags belonged to two passengers in transit from London Heathrow who had missed their connecting flight to South Africa.
Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for Air France said: "Air France confirms that the crew of flight AF990A from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Johannesburg (JNB) on October 14 decided to apply the precautionary principle and return to Paris CDG after 45 minutes flight time for checks linked to the matching of the passenger list and the baggage loaded in the hold. "
Security is Air France's priority and was never questioned.
"The baggage security procedures are in line with regulatory procedures and as for all Air France flights, the 4 bags concerned had been scanned and inspected on departure from London Heathrow (LHR) and were in transit through Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)."
The aircraft landed normally at 11:09 a.m. (local time) and the flight is expected to depart as soon as possible.
In August, MailOnline reported that an Air Malta flight bound for Manchester Airport was forced to make a mid-air diversion after it "forgot" two passengers.
The incident happened on August 28 when the aircraft had set out from the country's international airport in Luqa.
However, around 40 minutes into the flight to the UK, the captain is said to have announced to the passengers that it would have to turn around to pick-up two people still at the Maltese terminal.
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