An Austrian Airlines flight travelling from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Bulgaria after its crew received a bomb threat, according to Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The airline’s OS82 flight, operated by an Airbus A320, was flying near the Romanian border on Sunday when the crew received the threat and decided to divert to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, the ministry said in a statement.
A Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet escorted the aircraft to Sofia Airport, according to the country’s Defence Ministry.
Preliminary information indicated that six crew members and 51 passengers were on board. All 57 people disembarked safely, the Transport Ministry said.
The airline told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that a security search of the aircraft had been carried out. Passengers would be rebooked on alternative flights as soon as the inspection was completed, it added.
Bulgarian authorities established a crisis response team and launched an investigation into the incident, the Transport Ministry said.
According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, Austrian Airlines flight OS82 departed Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv at 6:46 pm local time on Sunday and landed at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport at 9:43 pm, after a journey of nearly three hours.
FlightRadar24 data showed that the aircraft entered Romanian airspace at around 9:10 pm before turning south and heading back towards Bulgaria.
Data from flight-tracking platform ADS-B Exchange showed that the aircraft was transmitting squawk code 7700 around the same time. The code is a general emergency signal used by aircraft to alert air traffic control to an emergency.
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