A SECURITY scare grounded a German-bound Qantas flight from Sydney last night, stranding hundreds of passengers at the airport for hours as federal authorities examined the plane.

The flight, which was to fly to Frankfurt via Singapore, was initially delayed because of a “technical” issue and subsequently by a “security” issue, according to officials.

QF5 was due to leave Sydney airport at 5pm but was still on the tarmac early this morning. During the time the plane was grounded for technical reasons, there was an incident, which the airline described as a “security issue”.

Neither Qantas nor the Australian Federal Police would detail the security fears.