An Airbus A320 flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna has made an emergency landing in Bulgaria following a reported bomb threat, according to the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport. Austrian Airlines flight OS82 was near the border with Romania when the crew received a bomb threat and decided to land in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, the Transport Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence said an air force MiG-29 fighter jet escorted the plane to Sofia airport. Initial information showed the aircraft carried six crew members and 51 passengers, all of whom have all since disembarked, according to the Transport Ministry’s statement.
The airline told the AFP news agency that a security search of the aircraft was conducted. “Once the search of the aircraft is complete, the passengers will be rebooked onto alternative flights as quickly as possible,” the airline said. A crisis response team has been set up, and relevant authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, the Bulgarian Transport Ministry said. According to aviation and flight tracking site FlightAware, Austrian Airlines 82 left the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday at 6:46pm local time (15:46 GMT) and landed about three hours later at Vasil Levski airport in Sofia at 9:43pm (18:43 GMT). Flightradar24 data showed it entered Romanian airspace at about 9:10pm (18:10 GMT) before turning south and heading back towards Bulgaria.
Information from the flight-tracking platform ADS-B Exchange indicates the aircraft was transmitting squawk code 7700 – a signal for a general emergency – at around the same time. Last month, a Flydubai plane carrying 174 passengers was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv when a co-pilot allegedly attacked the pilot with an axe in an attempt to crash the plane. The aircraft plunged about 17,000 feet (5,180 metres) before it was brought back under control by other Flydubai pilots after passengers and other crew subdued the alleged attacker. The flight was diverted and forced to make an emergency landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Authorities in the UAE said the co-pilot was on a “suicide” mission to crash the plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. The co-pilot, Hamam Al-Hammami, an Omani national, has since been charged with terrorism offences in the UAE. The Israeli government responded to the incident by ordering checks on the identities of all pilots flying into the country.
