Bomb threat forces Israel to Austria flight into emergency landing

ByHarry Sekulich and Toby Mann.

Key points

• Flight tracking data indicated Austrian Airlines 82 left Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening before landing at Vasil Levski airport in Sofia three hours afterwards.
• An Austrian Airlines flight from Israel to Austria has been forced to divert to Bulgaria after a documented bomb threat.
• The Bulgarian air force scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the airliner, the transport ministry remarked.
• Authorities conducted a security search of the plane after it landed in Sofia, regarding 30 minutes from when the alert was first raised.
• The BBC has sought further comment from Lufthansa, the owner of Austrian Airlines.

Notably, an Austrian Airlines flight from Israel to Austria has been forced to divert to Bulgaria after a documented bomb threat.

In practice, the Airbus A320 plane was travelling from Tel Aviv to Vienna on Sunday night but created an emergency landing in Sofia, where passengers were evacuated, the Bulgarian transport ministry stated in an official note.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian air force scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the airliner, the transport ministry remarked. No injuries have been documented and an investigation has begun.

It comes after a pilot attempted to hijack a Flydubai flight en route to Tel Aviv last month by attacking the captain, before the flight's crew and passengers overpowered him and landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia.

Bulgarian and Israeli media documented that a bomb threat had been produced.

Austrian Airlines has confirmed a threat was created, without giving further details. A spokesperson informed the AFP news agency there were 51 passengers and six crew members on board the jet.

Authorities conducted a security search of the plane after it landed in Sofia, regarding 30 minutes from when the alert was first raised. It was over Romania when it diverted to Sofia.

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.

For context, the BBC has sought further comment from Lufthansa, the owner of Austrian Airlines.

For now, bomb threat forces Israel to Austria flight into emergency landing remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.