European airports have faced a series of false reports about bombs on passenger aircraft.
In total, security services checked seven flights. All aircraft landed safely, and inspections found no dangerous items. Police and the aviation authority are investigating the incidents, describing the situation as highly unusual, Corriere della Sera reports.
One of the aircraft was flying from London’s Heathrow to Warsaw with 181 passengers on board, but it was diverted to Warsaw Modlin Airport due to the threat. A second flight from Copenhagen landed in the Polish capital on schedule, where it was immediately inspected by specialists.
The third incident involved a Ryanair flight from Manchester, which made an emergency landing in Murcia, Spain. There were 121 people on board, including the crew. After passengers were evacuated, Spanish emergency services and security forces carried out a full inspection.
The fourth — a flight from Israel — was diverted to Sofia over a bomb threat, where the aircraft was met by specialist counter-terrorism units.
The previous evening, a similar incident occurred with another Wizz Air aircraft flying from London to Sofia. Because of the threat, a Hungarian Air Force fighter jet escorted the plane to Budapest Airport, from where the flight continued after an inspection. In addition, alerts were received at Italy’s Fiumicino Airport, where law enforcement urgently checked two Ryanair aircraft from Lisbon and Dublin, but these threats also proved to be false.
- Earlier, a similar incident occurred in Moldova. On the night of 28 October, passengers and staff were evacuated from Chișinău International Airport after a report of a possible bomb threat. Border police organised the evacuation, and specialised services searched the airport grounds. No explosives or other suspicious items were found, so the alert proved to be false.