Taiwan-China flight forced to land after bomb hoax

An airliner travelling from Taiwan to China made an emergency landing after a passenger jokingly claimed he had a bomb on board, officials say.

The Taipei-Shanghai flight of Taiwan's China Airlines landed safely in Hangzhou, eastern China, and the passenger was held for questioning.

Police then checked the man's luggage and found no explosives.

The man - identified only as Lin - later admitted he made the comment as a joke, the officials said.

China Airlines spokesman Bruce Chen said the passenger was travelling on a US passport, the Associated Press reports.

He did not appear to have been drinking excessively, the spokesman added.

The plane eventually took off from Hangzhou and later landed safely in Shanghai.

It was not immediately known how many passengers were on board.