(CNN) - On Thursday, several European countries witnessed a state of security alert after a number of flights received threats about the presence of bombs on board, which prompted the authorities to divert planes and subject them to security checks, two days after at least 7 flights and a cruise ship received similar threats.
In one of these incidents, Italian Air Force fighters escorted a Finnair plane coming from Helsinki to Fiumicino Airport in the Italian capital, Rome, after receiving a bomb threat on board, an airport spokesman told CNN.
In two other incidents, two planes coming from two European cities were diverted to Malpensa Airport in Milan, after receiving similar threats, according to airport officials.
The airport explained that the two planes, one belonging to Aegean Airlines and coming from the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece, and the other belonging to Ryanair coming from the city of Porto in northern Portugal, were subjected to security checks conducted by the Italian border police to detect any explosives.
The Czech authorities also announced that the National Center for Combating Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime, a specialized police unit, will investigate the threats that targeted 4 planes that were heading to the capital, Prague.
Czech Interior Minister Lubomir Mitnar said, in a post on the “X” platform, previously Twitter, that the Czech authorities are communicating with their international partners regarding the investigations.
In France, a plane belonging to the Irish company Aer Lingus landed at Evreux Air Base in the Normandy region, after diverting its course during a flight from Dublin to Rome following a bomb threat.
The company said that the plane landed safely, while the French Prime Minister's office announced that about 151 passengers and 6 crew members were being "transferred to a safe place" following the threat.
The nature of the threat targeting the plane or whether there was any explosive object on board is not yet clear.
The latest developments came after a series of bomb threats, on Tuesday, targeted at least seven flights and a cruise ship across Europe, causing disturbances at airports and raising fears among travelers, but no explosives were found.
The threats included two flights heading to the Polish capital, Warsaw, two flights to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, two flights to the Italian capital, Rome, and a flight to the Spanish city of Murcia.
One of the threats led to the temporary closure of an airport in Warsaw, while the Italian Air Force escorted a plane to Rome, and the Greek authorities stopped a cruise ship heading to Israel to search it for explosives.
A plane operated by "Wizz Air" coming from the Italian city of Bergamo, and another belonging to "Ryan Air" coming from Dublin, landed safely in Sofia, where they were subjected to inspection and no explosives were found.
In southeastern Spain, the authorities cordoned off parts of Murcia Airport after receiving a threat targeting a Ryanair plane that was coming from the English city of Manchester. After investigations, officials concluded that the threat was false, and the airport was reopened.
In Rome, two other planes belonging to the same company, coming from Lisbon and Dublin, were subjected to inspection after receiving similar threats, without finding any indications of danger on board.
As for Greece, the authorities used a dog trained to detect explosives to search the cruise ship "Crown Iris", which flies the Panama flag, after an unknown person reported that an explosive device had been planted in the ship's hull, according to officials quoted by Reuters.
The ship resumed its voyage after specialists from the Coast Guard confirmed that it was free of any threat.
No party claimed responsibility for the threats on Tuesday, nor did any country accuse a specific party of being behind them.
While the circumstances of the recent threats are still unclear, experts have indicated that they may be linked to a broader pattern of attacks aimed at disrupting basic services in Europe.
Iliran Almog, CEO of Civation, a company specializing in aviation cybersecurity, said that the threats targeting aircraft come in conjunction with cyberattacks that targeted cooling systems in supermarkets across Europe.
He added: "Various basic services are experiencing disruptions that entail economic costs and may undermine public confidence."
A Reuters report indicated that these attacks may achieve multiple goals, including causing unrest and testing the extent of the authorities’ response to crises.
