North American Aerospace Defence Command officials scrambled fighter jets to intercept a Vancouver-bound Cathay Pacific flight Saturday afternoon after receiving unspecified reports of a security threat involving the plane.

Major Holly Apostoliuk, with the Canadian NORAD Region headquarters, said two CF18 Hornet fighter jets were scrambled under NORAD command from a forward operating base at Canadian Forces Base Comox as a precaution.

“In this case only as a precaution did we intercept and escort the aircraft until it landed safely,” Apostoliuk said in an interview, which it did close to 1:40 p.m.

She referred questions about the nature of the threat to the RCMP. Late this afternoon, RCMP Cpl. Sherrdean Turley said in a news release that police are investigating an incident involving a Cathay Pacific flight, but gave no further details.

Cathay Pacific’s flight 838 inbound from Hong Kong, was listed as having arrived at 1:35 p.m., but CKNW news is reporting that passengers are still aboard the Airbus A340, which has been towed to a location away from the terminal.

The fighter escort caught the attention of Lantzville Mayor Colin Haime, who just happened to be outside of his Vancouver Island home with a camera in his hands around 1:25 p.m. when the trio of planes passed overhead.

Haime said the planes were much louder than he’s used to hearing, which prompted him to look up while he was taking pictures for his daughter’s high school prom weekend.

“I glanced up and noticed that it was a commercial jet, but it had what looked to me like a small fighter-type plane off one wing and another one trailing in behind,” he said.

“Jets do occasionally do go over, but this one seemed particularly loud.”

He took a picture of the jetliner, which shows one fighter on its wing, and forwarded it to The Sun.

Haime said he watched the planes fly straight before banking to the south at a spot he guessed would have been over Nanaimo.

Cpl. Turley in the news release said the police investigation on the ground is continuing and police will provide information as the incident unfolds.

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