New Bomb-Threat Wave Targets More Than a Dozen Flights Across Europe
Thursday's alerts triggered diversions, emergency landings and fighter escorts. Inspections so far have found no hazardous or suspicious materials.
More than a dozen passenger flights across Europe received bomb threats Thursday, prompting diversions, emergency landings and military escorts, according to authorities and reports cited by The Associated Press.
The new alerts followed a separate series of hoax threats earlier this week. Flights from cities including Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw were affected Thursday. Inspections so far have not found hazardous or suspicious materials.
A Dublin-to-Rome flight diverted to a military air base in Evreux, France. All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe, the French prime minister's office said, while military bomb-disposal teams examined the aircraft.
A Finnair flight from Helsinki landed safely in Rome with an Italian fighter-jet escort. Police checks found no explosives, an airport official told AP. Czech police said searches of four planes that landed in Prague were also clear.
A LOT flight from Warsaw landed in Brussels, and a Wizz Air service from Milan landed in Bucharest, with no hazardous or suspicious items found in the Brussels inspection. Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia landed safely in Bulgaria, including a London Stansted service diverted to Plovdiv.
Authorities have not established a common source for the threats in the reports cited. The alerts remain distinct from the earlier four-flight wave reported Tuesday, which also ended with safe landings and no explosives found.