An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna has made an emergency landing in Bulgaria after a reported bomb threat, in the latest aviation security scare to unsettle European skies.
The Airbus A320, operating as flight OS82, diverted to Sofia on Sunday evening. The Bulgarian transport ministry said the crew reported a bomb threat signal and decided to land in Sofia, where passengers were evacuated. A Bulgarian air force fighter jet was scrambled to escort the aircraft to the ground. No injuries were reported and an investigation has begun.
The airline confirmed that a threat had been made against the flight, without giving further details. A spokesperson said 51 passengers and six crew members were on board, and that travellers would be rebooked once the aircraft had been searched. The airline has said the safety of its passengers and crew is always its top priority.
How the alert unfolded
Flight tracking data showed the aircraft leaving Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday evening before touching down in Sofia around three hours later. The Bulgarian ministry said the crew raised the alert while the aircraft was near the Romanian border and that the plane landed in Sofia roughly half an hour afterwards.
How the threat reached the crew remains unclear, with different accounts circulating in Bulgarian and Israeli media. Authorities have formed a joint working headquarters and a full security inspection of the aircraft was under way. No explosives had been reported found at the time of publication.
A tense stretch for aviation
The scare is the second in days to involve scrambled fighter jets, after Croatia and Germany scrambled aircraft last week over a Corfu to Nuremberg flight that accidentally sent a hijacking alert. It also follows last month’s attempt to hijack a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, which the crew and passengers foiled before landing safely in Saudi Arabia.
Sunday’s incident adds to an uneasy period for aviation, which has also seen US Army grounds roughly 400 Apache helicopters in a months long transmission inspection. News of the diversion spread internationally within hours, a rapid cycle familiar from other fast moving media stories this week.
