More than a dozen flights across Europe were hit by bomb threats on Thursday. No explosives were found.
More than a dozen passenger flights across Europe were disrupted by bomb threats on Thursday, Nov. 5, prompting diversions, fighter-jet escorts and investigations in several countries, the German news agency dpa reported. Several aircraft were searched by explosives experts, and no explosive devices have been found so far. It remained unclear whether the incidents were linked or who was behind the threats, some of which were sent by email.
An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to the Évreux military air base in western France, the office of French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said. The 151 passengers and six crew members were brought to safety. The French government said fighter jets were ordered to intercept the aircraft and escort it because the pilot did not initially cooperate, and it was unclear why the pilot first refused to make the unscheduled landing, dpa reported.
In Italy, a Finnair flight from Helsinki landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport at about 9:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. AST), escorted by Italian Air Force jets after an email threat, according to an airport official cited by The Associated Press. Finnair said a second flight, from Helsinki to Vienna, also faced a hoax threat. A flight from Milan to Warsaw was diverted to Vienna after a threat and later continued, and an Austrian police spokesman described the threat as “abstract,” dpa reported. Bulgarian fighter jets escorted three Ryanair flights, one diverted to Plovdiv and two landed in Sofia, with no explosives found, according to AP. Police also searched flights in Copenhagen, Prague and Bucharest and found nothing suspicious, according to dpa.
AP and AFP said it was the third day this week of hoax alerts, while dpa described Thursday as the second wave. On Tuesday, 10 flights were targeted, all hoaxes, and a Warsaw airport was temporarily closed, AFP reported. British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called the incidents “malicious hoax threats,” and the Guardian cited British investigative sources saying there was no immediate evidence linking the threats to a state actor, dpa reported. Eurocontrol said it was monitoring the situation and working with airlines and airports to limit disruption.