Overseas school trip for suburban students ends with bomb threat, flight diverted

Hundreds of passengers were back in Chicago Tuesday after a nightmare flight caught them in the middle of a terror investigation.

“The plane as a whole was eerily calm. I think a lot of people were in shock of what was going on,” said Kevin Santopadre.

A group of eight high school graduates and five adult chaperones from Woodstock’s Marian Central Catholic High School got caught up in a potential terrorist threat onboard a United flight Monday.

They were heading home from a school trip to Rome when they had to make an emergency landing.

Passengers on board say the flight crew made an announcement.

"[They] said that there had been a terrorist threat at the back of the plane and they tried to get the person to come forward to handle it directly and nobody did,” said Karen Fredricks.

They were told terrorist messages were found written in the bathroom, so they landed at Shannon Airport in Ireland.

All 207 passengers walked from the plane to the runway unharmed while officials investigated the aircraft. United is not commenting on the threat, but did thank passengers Tuesday when they boarded for their cooperation.