Tel Aviv flight diverted over bomb threat

Austrian Airlines flight diverted to Bulgaria after reported bomb threat

The full report

An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, after a bomb threat was reported near the Bulgarian-Romanian border. The Airbus A320 landed safely with 51 passengers and six crew members aboard.

According to the Bulgarian transport ministry, the crew reported a bomb threat signal and decided to land in Sofia extraordinarily. The plane was flying from Tel Aviv for Vienna but was diverted to Sofia at 9:25 p.m., air tracker Flightradar24 data showed.

A Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the aircraft. Following the evacuation of passengers after landing, a security search of the plane was launched, Austrian Airlines said in a statement quoted by Austrian news agency APA.

The passengers will be rebooked onto alternative flights as quickly as possible once the search of the aircraft is complete, the airline said. This incident comes after a pilot attempted to hijack a Flydubai flight en route to Tel Aviv last month.

Last week, Croatia and Germany both scrambled fighter jets after a commercial flight from the Greek holiday island of Corfu to the German city of Nuremberg accidentally sent out a hijacking alert. No injuries have been reported and an investigation has begun.

Austrian Airlines has confirmed a threat was made, without giving further details. Authorities conducted a security search of the plane after it landed in Sofia, about 30 minutes from when the alert was first raised. It was over Romania when it diverted to Sofia.