At least seven flights and a cruise ship in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday, causing disruption at airports although no devices were discovered.
At least two flights to Warsaw, two to Sofia, two to Rome and one to Murcia airport in Spain were subjected to the threats on Tuesday, and another flight to Sofia had been threatened a day earlier. An airport in Warsaw was briefly shut and the Italian air force accompanied one of the flights to Rome while an Israel-bound cruise ship was searched for bombs in Greece.
There was no claim of responsibility and officials did not attribute blame. None of the affected airlines responded to Reuters’s requests for comment.
Rhys Jones, Analysis Output Manager at aviation risk advisory firm Osprey Flight Solutions, said that seven confirmed bomb threats in a single day impacting flights was exceptional.
“The lack of clear target state, airline, or route indicates that general disruption to aviation operations is the aim,” Jones told Reuters.
Bulgaria
In the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, a plane flying from Israel landed after a bomb threat was received by email. Counterterrorism units were checking the plane for possible explosive devices, BTA news agency quoted Interior Ministry Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov as saying.
Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry said bomb threats were made against two planes travelling from Bergamo and Dublin to Sofia on Tuesday. Both landed safely and no explosive devices were found on inspection.
The Bergamo flight was operated by Wizz Air and was carrying 176 passengers, the statement said. The Dublin flight, operated by Ryanair, had 185 passengers on board.
A day earlier, a Wizz Air flight from London to Sofia was diverted to Budapest airport after receiving a bomb threat, Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said in a Facebook post.
Last month, a flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Bulgaria following a bomb threat.
Spain
Parts of an airport in Murcia, in southeastern Spain, were cordoned off on Tuesday after a bomb threat was reported on a Ryanair flight from Manchester.
But officials said the report proved to be a hoax, and the airport resumed normal operations after authorities found no explosives on board.
A screengrab from a video shows a police officer removing baggage from a Ryanair airplane on Tuesday, after Ryanair’s operations centre reported a bomb threat received during the flight from Manchester to Murcia, according to Guardia Civil, in Murcia, Spain. (Forta/Reuters)
Italy
A Ryanair flight from Lisbon landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport Tuesday morning after receipt of an email reporting a bomb was on board, according to information provided by a Fiumicino official with knowledge of the events.
Police bomb disposal experts carried out security checks of passengers, crew and baggage, and found no explosives.
Another email reported a bomb on another Ryanair flight to Rome, bound from Dublin.
Italy’s air force escorted that plane to Fiumicino and the same ground security procedures were carried out, with no explosives found, the official said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Poland
In Poland, meanwhile, a morning flight by Polish airline LOT from London’s Heathrow airport to Warsaw’s main Chopin airport was diverted to the Polish capital’s Modlin airport after a bomb threat, Polish press agency PAP reported. The Modlin airport was closed temporarily.
LOT later said that the search of the aircraft diverted to Modlin had been completed and that “nothing was found on the aircraft.” Passengers on the flight from London to Warsaw, the airline reported, were undergoing border control and, after passing through, would be transported to Chopin Airport by coach, PAP reported.
The Modlin airport later posted a statement saying that there was no real threat and the airport had resumed normal operations. It did not give any further details on the nature of the threats.
Chopin Airport also received information about a potentially dangerous item on board a Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, flight from Copenhagen to Chopin airport, PAP reported. Piotr Rudzki, the acting director of the Warsaw airport’s communications office, told the news agency that standard safety procedures were immediately implemented following the information and one of the airport’s runways was closed.
“The passengers disembarked, the plane landed normally; it was not an emergency landing,” SAS spokesperson Alexandra Lindgren Kaokju told PAP.
She added that the carrier is currently focusing on providing care to passengers and crew, and the matter has been referred to the Polish police.
Hungary
The bomb threats came a day after a Wizz Air flight that departed Luton airport, near London, was forced to make an emergency landing in Hungary after a bomb threat was received while the plane was in the air.
Hungary’s defence minister said in his Facebook post on Monday that a Gripen fighter jet from the Hungarian Air Force was scrambled to intercept the Wizz Air flight bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, and escorted it safely to the Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest.
Authorities found no threat aboard the aircraft after conducting an inspection of the plane and its passengers, Wizz Air told state news agency MTI.
A fire brigade car is parked by an Israel-bound cruise ship, following a bomb threat which prompted a security operation, after an unknown person claimed an explosive device had been attached to its hull, Greek authorities said, at the port of Syros, Greece on Tuesday. (Giorgos Solaris/Reuters)
Greece
An explosives detection dog and a diver searched the Panama-flagged Crown Iris cruise ship on the Greek island of Syros after an unknown person said an explosive device had been attached to the boat’s hull, authorities said.
Initial checks found no explosive device with coast guard specialists expected to carry out further inspections before the ship could resume its voyage.
While no country pointed fingers over the bomb threats, they come as European officials have been blaming both Russia and Iran for what they describe as “hybrid attacks” and acts of sabotage. Moscow and Tehran both deny any such campaign.
This week, unidentified hackers shut down fridges in supermarkets in several European countries. Some experts said hoax bomb threats could be part of a similar pattern of low-cost, deniable disruption efforts.
“From railways to the food infrastructure that you see happening with the fridges being hacked and all kinds of other operations, it does fit the narrative of Russian state actors who want to disturb Europe,” said Eric Schouten, the head of aviation security group Dyami.
Source: www.cbc.ca
