A plane bound for Britain was forced to land in Turkey yesterday after a Pakistani airline received bomb threats by email.

The plane was en route to Manchester Airport yesterday afternoon when officials in Islamabad received the terror warning. All 347 passengers are safe while bomb disposal teams carry out searches on the PK709 jet in Istanbul, according to Captain Tasneem Mozaffar, the head of global operations for Pakistani International Airlines.

A total of 323 economy passengers, 24 first class passengers and 16 crew were ushered off the plane as sniffer dogs carried out searches at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Meanwhile, a plane due to land in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has been forced to land in Malaysia while security officials carry out checks.

"When you have 500 people in the air you have to take the safest option," Captain Mozaffar said.

"We received information in a written email of a bomb threat on the two flights."