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Austrian Airlines Flight Diverts To Sofia After Bomb Threat En Route To Vienna
An Austrian Airlines flight travelling from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an unscheduled landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, late on Sunday after a bomb threat was reported. A subsequent search of the aircraft and everyone on board found no danger.
The airline confirmed on Monday that flight OS82, operating on October 18, had to make an intermediate stop in Sofia because of the threat.
After passengers and crew were checked and the aircraft was searched, everyone reboarded and the flight continued to Vienna.
According to reports from Bulgaria, the crew received the threat as the aircraft approached the Romanian border. The Bulgarian Air Force reportedly scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets in response.
Lufthansa Group, which owns Austrian Airlines, Vienna Airport and Austria’s interior ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Austria’s and Bulgaria’s interior ministers were scheduled to hold a previously arranged press conference in Vienna at 11 a.m. on Monday.
The incident occurred less than three weeks after a co-pilot aboard a flydubai flight bound for Israel allegedly attacked the captain with an axe in an attempt to crash the aircraft.
The United Arab Emirates attorney general said last week that the Omani co-pilot had intended to take control of the September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in a suicide attack. The captain thwarted the alleged attempt.
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