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FBI questions, releases passengers headed to Yemen

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After questioning 31 passengers en route to Yemen from New York about their visas and other documents, FBI terrorism experts found nothing suspicious and released them, a Transportation Security Administration official said Wednesday.

A law enforcement source said preliminary terrorist background checks came back negative on the 31 passengers, who were stopped Tuesday night when they tried to board a British Airways flight departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The source said each name was run through a computer program of names of terrorists, and each name came back negative.

The source said all 31 had valid U.S. passports, green cards or other documentation. However, 10 did not have proper papers to enter Yemen, which is why British Airways officials refused to allow the passengers to board and called the FBI to investigate.

After being questioned, 12 of the passengers were released to board British Airways Flight 116, which departed at 11 p.m. Tuesday to London, according to Diana Fung, British Airways' spokeswoman in New York.

The passengers were expected to take another flight to Yemen.

The other 19 were later released, Fung said. It was not clear if those passengers made other travel arrangements to Yemen.

Fung said some of the passengers were U.S. citizens.

-- CNN Assignment Editor Chris Kokenes and CNN Correspondents Kathleen Koch and Deborah Feyerick contributed to this report