Kenya Airways said Saturday its flight to Nairobi from Amsterdam was forced to make diversion due to a fire warning indication in one of the cargo holds.

Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni said in a statement in Nairobi that the diverted the Boeing 777 200ER which had 301 passengers onboard landed safely in Athens and all the 301 passengers on board are safe.

"The flight landed safely in Athens and all passengers and crew were taken to a hotel in Athens. The functional tests and profiling of the cargo to confirm the source of the fire warning required a rescheduling of the flight," Naikuni said in a statement.

He said the functional tests and profiling of the cargo to confirm the source of the fire warning, required a rescheduling of the flight.

"As is the normal standard procedure in the industry, the fire suppression system was activated and the aircraft diverted to the nearest airport for further assessment," Naikuni said.

He said all tests that have been conducted on the fire detection system confirm that it is functioning properly.

"The flight is now scheduled to depart Athens today (Saturday) at 17:00 Kenyan time arriving in Nairobi at 22.55," Naikuni said.

Many of the passengers were tourists heading to Kenya's game parks and resorts and transit passengers heading for other destinations in southern Africa.