An Austrian Airlines flight bound for Vienna was forced into an unscheduled stop in Bulgaria after a reported bomb threat prompted an emergency diversion, Bulgarian authorities and the carrier said.
The crew opted to land in Sofia as the aircraft approached Romania, Bulgaria’s transport ministry said in a statement. After touching down, passengers were evacuated from the plane, the ministry added.
As part of standard procedures, the Bulgarian air force dispatched a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the airliner, according to the transport ministry.
Austrian Airlines said the flight was carrying 51 passengers and six crew members. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, landed safely in Sofia and a security search was initiated roughly 30 minutes after the threat was received, the airline said.
Flightradar24 data shows the plane, registered OE-LZE, entered Romanian airspace at about 9.10pm local time before turning south and heading back toward Bulgaria, where it landed in Sofia.
Separate tracking information from ADS-B Exchange suggests the aircraft was broadcasting squawk code 7700 — the transponder signal used to indicate a general emergency — around the same time.
The transport ministry said a crisis response team has been established and that the relevant authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.
The diversion comes amid other recent security-related events involving commercial aviation. 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 stopped by the captain, passengers and crew.
Last week, Croatia and Germany both launched fighter jets after a commercial flight from the Greek holiday island of Corfu to the German city of Nuremberg mistakenly transmitted a hijacking alert.
