Grenade found on plane at Ben-Gurion airport

A state of emergency was declared temporarily at Israel's Ben Gurion airport on Friday morning after a hand grenade was found aboard a Ukrainian International Airlines plane prior to departure, according to Israeli media reports.

A passenger found the "safety pin" hand grenade aboard the flight and alerted authorities, who grounded the flight and declared a state of emergency while they searched the plane, according to Israeli news site Yediot Aharonot.

The flight's 143 passengers were subsequently removed from the flight and placed in a special hall, where security officials carried out extensive security searches. They also subjected the plane and the passengers' luggage to searches as well.

Although security officials did not find any further explosives, the incident was a serious breach of security at the airport, which prides itself on its extensive security procedures.