European airlines divert more than a dozen flights after new wave of bomb threats
Emergency landings in France, Bulgaria, and Czechia followed earlier hoaxes this week; inspectors have found no explosives so far.
By Amina Yusuf ·
More than a dozen commercial flights across Europe made emergency landings on Thursday after receiving bomb threats. Airlines including Ryanair, Wizz Air, and LOT Polish Airlines reported diversions and ground inspections. Authorities confirmed that no hazardous materials were found on the planes that landed so far.
The current round of incidents follows a series of hoax threats earlier this week. Those earlier reports prompted searches, diversions, and one military escort for a flight. A plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary during that initial wave. No passengers were injured in those earlier events.
On Thursday, a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Evreux, a military air base in western France. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office stated that 151 passengers and six crew members were safe. Military bomb disposal teams examined the aircraft. The office said it was monitoring the situation in real time.
Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, also made emergency landings. Two planes, one from Copenhagen and one from Madrid, arrived safely at Sofia's Vasil Levski Airport. A third flight from London's Stansted Airport landed at Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city. Krassimir Peshev, the CEO of Plovdiv Airport, confirmed the safe landing.
Czech police searched four planes that landed in Prague after receiving threats. They reported the searches were clear but did not specify the flights' origins. In Vienna, a flight to Warsaw diverted there after a mail threat to Polish authorities. Stefan Loidl, a police spokesperson in Lower Austria, said nothing suspicious was found and the plane continued to Warsaw. Four other flights to Vienna received abstract threats, but airport operations were not disrupted.
In Helsinki, a Finnair flight to Rome landed at Leonardo da Vinci airport around 9:30 a.m. Italian air force fighter jets escorted the plane. An anonymous airport official said an emailed bomb threat was received and police bomb disposal experts completed clearance procedures without finding explosives. A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest landed safely after a similar threat, according to airport spokesman Teo Postelnicu.
Polish authorities checked a LOT flight about to depart Warsaw for Paris on Thursday morning. Piotr Rudzki, a spokesman for Warsaw's Chopin Airport, said one runway was temporarily closed for standard security procedures. No threat was identified, and the flight proceeded. A LOT flight from Warsaw to Brussels also landed with no hazardous items found during inspection.
