Moscow-Almaty flight evacuated due to ticking package found in cargo hold

About 200 passengers were evacuated from a Boeing-737 plane that had traveled from Moscow to Almaty on Thursday because of a ticking package found in the cargo hold, the Almaty Rescue Service said.

Sappers x-rayed the approximately 4-kilogram (9-pound) package and found it contained an electric cord, and the sound of a clock mechanism could be heard. Specialists called in from the Kazakh Interior Ministry examined the suspicious package and found it contained a children's toy clock that had been sent by post from Greece to the Kazakh city of Petropavlovsk.

Almaty is Kazakhstan's commercial capital and main transport hub.

Associated Press