Bolivian presidential aircraft forced to land in Austria after rumours fugitive Edward Snowden was aboard Several countries have rushed to reject asylum requests from fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. THE plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales has been forced to land in Austria - on suspicion that fugitive Edward Snowden was on board. The wanted former US National Security Agency systems analyst was not found, however. The Associated Press reports a Bolivian minister as confirming the president's plane was diverted shortly after departing Russia, possibly because of concerns the fugitive was aboard. The plane made an ``emergency landing" in Austria, after being denied landing permits by Portugal and France. "We are told that there were some unfounded suspicions that Mr. Snowden was on the plane," Choquehuanca said. We do not know who has invented this lie. Someone who wants to harm our country. This information that has been circulated is malicious information to harm this country. Portugal owes us an explanation. France owes us an explanation. ... The president's life was put at risk. The fugitive whistleblower has previously listed Bolivia and Austria as nations he as applied to for asylum. Neither nation has made their response public. Leaks by the former contractor have revealed the NSA's sweeping data collection of US phone records and some internet traffic every day, though US intelligence officials have said the programs are aimed at targeting foreigners and terrorist suspects mostly overseas. However, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was today forced to apologise for telling Congress earlier this year that the NSA does not collect data on millions of Americans, a response he now says was ``clearly erroneous. Clapper apologised in a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein. His agency posted the letter Tuesday on its website. Clapper was asked during a hearing in March by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, if the NSA gathered ``any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans. At first, Clapper answered definitively: ``No. Pressed by Wyden, Clapper changed his answer. ``Not wittingly," he said. ``There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly."