An inbound Cathay Pacific aircraft was escorted into YVR airport by Canadian Forces fighter jets on Saturday afternoon due to a bomb threat.

The plane landed safely shortly after 1:30 p.m. accompanied by two CF-18 Hornets, airport spokeswoman Alisa Gloag told ctvbc.ca.

"It was taken to the gate and all the passengers were offloaded," she said. "To my understanding, no one has been injured."

Mounties searched the plane, but Cpl. Sherrdean Turley said investigators found "nothing of concern on board."

She told reporters outside Vancouver International Airport that the RCMP received the threat at 10:43 a.m. local time.

"This threat is being taken very seriously," she said. "We just want to ensure the travelling public that there is no threat at this time."

Passengers were allowed off the plane a few hours after landing on the tarmac. No one was arrested.

"I was scared," said one passenger about the moment he noticed the fighter jet outside the plane's window. "It was flying very near."

However, several passengers told CTV News that they were not told about the security threat during the flight.

"No announcements were made on board," she said. "Some passengers noticed the fighter jets out the window and were frightened. But there was no panic on the plane. Everyone remained calm because passengers had no idea what was going on."

The order to send the jets was made from the Canadian Norad regional headquarters in Winnipeg. A search and rescue aircraft plus a military helicopter also responded to the call in case the incident developed.

A Vancouver Island resident who witnesses the escorted plane fly by said he was able to snap about 20 pictures as the aircraft made its way across the horizon.

"I just heard planes overhead, looked up and saw a big aircraft with a fighter right on its wings," said Patrick Beeton in a telephone chat with News Channel. "At a distance behind was another fighter jet. It was pretty impressive to see."

The plane has been towed to a remote part of the airport, away from the terminal. Sniffing dogs were seen around the luggage area.

Passengers were told they would receive their luggage at a later date after they were thoroughly examined.

Alan Bell, a terrorism expert, told CTV News Channel that the threat was not likely made by someone on board the aircraft.

"It looks like it was an external bomb threat," he said. "It looks like they gave enough information to make it sound like a credible threat and the crew acted accordingly."

Bell said regardless of the scenario, fighter jets are always deployed when there is a credible threat to public safety.

"We don't know yet what the threat was but each situation scenario would have elicited a response from military aircraft...until the aircraft is safely on the ground," he said.

The fighter jets would be ordered to shoot the plane down if terrorists took over the plane's cockpit and aimed the plane towards a residential area, he added.

The investigation is being handled by the RCMP in Vancouver.

With files from The Canadian Press