Reports say device found after Sydney plane threat

SYDNEY, Aug 17 (Reuters) Australian police were investigating reports that a suspicious device may have been found aboard a Pacific Blue flight which landed at Sydney Airport from Fiji today.

An unspecified number of passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the Boeing 737 airliner which landed at 5.45 p.m.

(1315 hrs IST) in Sydney from Nadi, Fiji's main international hub.

''Emergency services and airport authorities are currently examining an aircraft at Sydney Airport following unconfirmed reports that a suspicious device may be on board,'' New South Wales state police said in a statement.

A spokesman for Sydney Airport, Australia's largest, said the plane had been parked away from the main terminal buildings while the threat was being investigated.

No other details of the threat had been confirmed.

Australian media reported that the east-west runway at Sydney airport had been closed.

Seven Network television said the threat against the flight had been called in from the Philippines while the aircraft was in the air.

Australia, a staunch US ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.

But Australia has been targeted in recent attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings in which 202 people died, including 88 Australians.

REUTERS PB ND1542