NEW YORK 

No explosives were found aboard a Turkish Airlines plane that was diverted to the Canadian east coast city of Halifax on Saturday night due to a bomb threat, authorities said.

Police in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia said on Twitter that officers had completed the search of the Istanbul-bound flight TK2 at around 4.25 a.m. local time (GMT0825) and that no explosive device was found.

"The Turkish Airlines aircraft is scheduled to continue on to Istanbul later this morning. The investigation into the threat is ongoing," police said.

The flight later landed in in Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport late Sunday.

Passenger Talat Elmas thanked the crew. “Although we did not think of a bomb call, we unavoidably felt uneasy when we saw the police cars,” he added. “They searched the plane and after around five hours we took off again.”

The Airbus A330 jet had taken off from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport at 9.03 p.m. local time (0203GMT), according to Turkish Airlines' online flight status page.

Police said the plane had to land at Halifax Stanfield International Airport after a bomb threat was received. The airport said all 256 people on board were safe.

The diversion came several days after two Paris-bound Air France planes departing from the U.S. were diverted due to anonymous bomb threats.

Flight 55, from Dulles Airport outside Washington D.C., and Flight 65, from Los Angeles, made emergency landings in Halifax and in the western U.S. city of Salt Lake City, respectively, on Tuesday.

No explosives or related evidence were found on either flight, U.S. and Canadian media said.

The incidents followed Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people.