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Monday, July 8, 2013

► GREECE: Kenya Airways 777 diverts to Athens following cargo-bay fire warning in mid flight.

Kenya Airways
A Kenya Airways Boeing 777-200ER (MSN 33683 | 5Y-KQS), operating as flight KQ117 en route from Amsterdam to Nairobi on Saturday July 6, was forced to make an emergency landing in Athens after a cargo-bay fire warning indication alarm sounded in mid flight.

5Y-KQS in Athens (Trevor Lamenya)
Kenya Airways stated that as per standard procedures, the fire suppression system was activated once the alarm sounded with the aircraft subsequently diverting to Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos", the nearest airport, for further assessment.

The flight landed safely in Athens at 01h25L and all tests conducted on the fire detection system confirmed it to be functioning correctly.

On arrival, all but 45 of the 301 passengers were unable to obtain entry visas with the rest being transported to local hotels.

While scheduled to have left Athens at 17h00L on Saturday evening, the onward flight was delayed indefinitely forcing the airline to rebook some passengers onto other Skyteam flights. As of Monday morning, 5Y-KQS is still understood to be in Athens.