“Security concerns” prompted a flight from the Minneapolis area to Mexico on Wednesday to detour to El Paso, Texas, officials said.
Details about why the Sun Country Airlines 593 created an unplanned stop in El Paso were not immediately clear. The airline said the plane landed without any problems.
The plane “detached to El Paso due to a wealth of caution in response to security concerns,” the statement said.
All passengers said they had safely got off the plane and were offered overnight accommodation.
El Paso’s FBI office said in a statement from X that it was in response to El Paso International Airport, but there were few other details.
“Around 4:15pm on MST, FBI El Paso was notified by partners at El Paso International Airport and the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center for a repurposed plane headed from Minneapolis to El Paso, Texas.”
Officials from the department’s El Paso office responded to the airport to “support our partners and ensure the safety of our passengers and crew on the plane.”
The flight was heading from Paul International Airports in Minneapolis and Thane to the Mexican coastal city of Mazatlan, Sun Country Airlines said.
“We are working with law enforcement to thoroughly investigate the situation and assess the validity of our concerns,” the airline said.
