BERLIN – Germany has extended its ban on cargo aircraft from Yemen to include passenger flights, the country's aviation authority said Monday, after Yemen-based terrorists' attempted to mail a pair of powerful bombs to the United States.
One of the bombs mailed from Yemen and found by authorities was routed to London through the UPS hub in Cologne in western Germany.
Passenger flights from Yemen were being suspended until further notice, German aviation agency spokeswoman Cornelia Cramer said. A spokesman for Yemenia airlines confirmed the flight ban.
"We just received a fax from the German aviation agency telling us that Yemenia can no longer fly to Germany," spokesman Eugene Lopez told The Associated Press by phone. The airline flies Tuesdays and Saturdays from San'a to Frankfurt, he said.
Germany stopped package deliveries from Yemen over the weekend.
The government had also ordered a very thorough examination of all cargo from Yemen that is currently in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
He said that Germany was working with its European partners and the U.S. on finding a solution for dealing with the bomb threat.