A Basingstoke Gazette photographer found himself making the news rather than covering it when he was caught up in a bomb scare on board a Middle Eastern flight.

Jason Allen and his wife Julie were on a flight back to England from Qatar when there was a security alert on board their plane as a Spanish woman claimed to have a bomb.

Jason and wife Julie

Jason, (31), said the woman began talking to his friend Steve further down the aircraft, and told him she had a bomb.

He said: “She said it a couple of times. Then she said to Steve, and also another guy, ‘You are the bomber’.”

The 250-passenger plane – an Airbus A330-200 on route from the Qatari capital Doha to Heathrow – was cruising at 35,000ft when the woman made her threat.

It was immediately diverted to Damascus in Syria while the captain told passengers there was a technical fault.

Jason said: “Given the location of the plane, the threat was taken seriously. As we were close to Iraq, it was quite worrying.

“I was thinking ‘We are in a situation and this is not a great place to have this happen’. I was scared.”

The couple – who were returning home after attending a friend’s wedding in Abu Dhabi – said that when the plane landed it was kept away from the airport’s main building.

Jason said: “Seven guys got on board, all in leather.

“We just watched as they grabbed the young woman. She was hysterical.”

The men, who were Syrian security personnel, also took the couple’s friend for questioning while the rest of the passengers were taken to the main terminal where they were asked to identify their luggage and undergo body searches.

The airline later described the scare as a hoax and the passengers were allowed back on the plane.

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