An alleged bomb threat on an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna triggered an emergency diversion to Bulgaria, prompting authorities to scramble a fighter jet and evacuate passengers after landing.
Bulgaria’s transport ministry said the crew opted to put the aircraft down in Sofia after a bomb threat was reported as the plane approached Romanian airspace. The ministry added that passengers were taken off the aircraft once it landed.
As part of standard protocol, the Bulgarian air force dispatched a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the airliner, the transport ministry said.
Austrian Airlines said 51 passengers and six crew members were on board the Airbus A320. The carrier said a security search began after the jet landed safely in Sofia, about 30 minutes after the threat was received.
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft, registered OE-LZE, entered Romanian airspace at about 9.10pm local time before turning south and routing back toward Bulgaria, where it touched down in Sofia.
Information from a separate tracking service, ADS-B Exchange, indicates the plane was broadcasting squawk code 7700 — the general emergency signal — at roughly the same time.
The transport ministry said a crisis response team has been formed and that the relevant authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.
The diversion comes amid other recent security-related incidents in European airspace. Late last month, the co-pilot on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv attacked the captain and allegedly sought to deliberately crash the aircraft, but was restrained by the captain, passengers and crew.
Last week, Croatia and Germany both sent fighter jets to intercept a commercial flight from the Greek holiday island of Corfu to the German city of Nuremberg after it mistakenly transmitted a hijacking alert.
