15/04/2011
By Helen James
People can do outlandish things for love - but what one woman did sparked a terror alert at a Chilean airport.
Grace Guajardo was so desperate to stop her boyfriend leaving her behind to fly to Spain for a new job, she told authorities there was a bomb on his plane. The flight to Madrid with Rodrigo Gomez on board was already heading to the runway, but pilots diverted to a quiet area and evacuated the 312 passengers from the plane. Police with specialist dogs to detect explosives combed their entire luggage.
"I'm sorry, but I did it for love," Guajardo said - and she succeeded. Gomez has decided to stay in Chile rather than take a month's work as a cruise ship waiter.
However, the authorities quickly traced the call about a bomb on Iberia flight 6830 to a mobile phone Gomez had left at home. There was also another call to the airport from that number earlier, in which Guajardo asked officials to tell Gomez his father was ill. She confessed and has been charged with making a false bomb threat.
She is free until her trial but could face a jail term of 61 days if she is found guilty. Things could have been much worse though - prosecutors heard the couple's story and decided not to charge her under anti-terror laws.
The other 311 people who had their flight disrupted had to be rescheduled for a flight the next day. It's times like this when travel insurance can come in very handy, covering the delayed passengers unexpected extra time in Chile.
