Bomb threat forces airliner from Tel Aviv to divert to Bulgaria

An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna encountered a bomb threat Sunday, leading the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian transport ministry announced that the passengers were evacuated upon landing, and a security search of the Airbus A320 was initiated. The Austrian Airlines crew informed AFP that the flight carried 51 passengers and six crew members.

The plane, registered OE-LZE, had entered Romanian airspace around 9:10 PM before turning south and heading towards Bulgaria, landing in Sofia approximately half an hour after the threat. Following the search, passengers will be rebooked onto alternative flights as soon as possible. The transport ministry has established a crisis response team and initiated an investigation into the incident.

A separate incident involved a flydubai flight's co-pilot attacking the captain and planning to intentionally crash the plane, which was thwarted by the crew. Last week, both Croatia and Germany scrambled fighter jets after a commercial flight from Corfu, Greece, to Nuremberg, Germany, mistakenly sent out a hijacking alert.