Aeroflot flight lands in Athens after bomb threat

ATHENS (Reuters) - An Aeroflot flight from Athens to Moscow turned back in midair on Monday after receiving an anonymous bomb threat, but no explosives were found after police searched the plane in the Greek capital.

The Airbus A-319 carrying 49 passengers had been flying for around an hour when officials at Athens' Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport ordered it to turn back.

"An unknown man called and said there was a bomb on the Aeroflot plane headed from Athens to Moscow," a Greek civil aviation official told Reuters.

"We told the pilot to return to Athens for the appropriate checks. The plane was near the border with Turkey at the time."

Passengers were quickly disembarked from the flight and police conducted a thorough search but failed to find any explosives.

An airport official told Reuters that the aircraft will fly to Moscow later today.

(Additional reporting by Tatiana Fragou in Athens and Moscow bureau)