An Austrian Airlines flight travelling from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday after a bomb threat prompted an urgent security response.
Bulgarian authorities confirmed that all 51 passengers and six crew members were evacuated after the Airbus A320 landed safely. A crisis response team was established as officials launched an investigation into the threat.
According to Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry, the aircraft diverted to Sofia as it approached Romanian airspace after the crew reportedly received information about a possible bomb on board.
Bulgarian fighter jet scrambled
The Bulgarian Air Force scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the passenger aircraft as part of established security procedures, the ministry said.
Following the emergency landing, security teams began searching the aircraft for any suspicious items.
Austrian Airlines said passengers would be transferred to alternative flights as quickly as possible once the security inspection was completed.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the threat allegedly came from an Austrian citizen who was not travelling on the aircraft. Authorities have not publicly established the credibility or motive behind the threat.
Series of aviation security alerts
The incident comes amid a series of security alerts involving commercial flights connected to Israel and European destinations.
Last week, a Delta Air Lines flight that landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel was reportedly cleared after an anonymous report alleged that a suspicious device was on board.
Separately, fighter jets from Croatia and Germany were scrambled after a commercial flight travelling from the Greek island of Corfu to Nuremberg, Germany, accidentally transmitted a hijacking alert.
The latest incident in Bulgarian airspace has prompted an investigation, with the aircraft search and the authorities’ assessment of the bomb threat central to establishing what happened.
Source: WION, citing Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry and Haaretz.
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