United Airlines plane bound for Switzerland diverted to Logan Airport in Boston

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

A United Airlines flight bound for Switzerland was diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston tonight after an attendant found a camera on board but could not locate its owner, officials said.

United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said the flight departed from Newark at 6:01 p.m. and landed in Boston shortly after 9:10 p.m. He said there was no indication that the camera posed a safety threat, but that the flight attendant requested that it be removed.

Johnson said the Boeing 767 was carrying 157 passengers and 11 crew members.

David Procopio, a State Police spokesman, said that bomb technicians examined the camera after evacuating the passengers and found that it was harmless.

“The pilot and flight crew are now preparing to for takeoff,” Procopio said in an email at about 10:30 p.m. “Passengers will be allowed back on. Once the x-ray proved negative for anything hazardous, it was not necessary to sweep the plane with our bomb dogs.”

Procopio said the North American Aerospace Defense Command deployed fighter jets to escort the United plane, but the aircraft landed before the jets reached it.

He said the “small, personal use camera” was taken off the plane.

Johnson said a flight attendant initially found the camera in a seat back pocket, and Procopio said it was inside an airsickness bag.