Bomb threats on board seven planes and a ship bound for Israel confound Europe

On Tuesday, at least seven flights in Europe faced bomb threats, causing disturbances at airports and tight security measures, while a cruise ship heading to Israel was subjected to inspection in Greece, without finding any objects or explosive devices.

The threats included two flights headed to Warsaw, two others to Sofia, and the same to Rome, in addition to a flight headed to the Spanish city of Murcia. No party claimed responsibility for these threats, nor did officials bring charges against any party.

Disturbances at European airports

The authorities changed the destination of a flight belonging to the Polish airline "Lotte" that departed from London and was heading to Chopin Airport in Warsaw, to the nearby Warsaw-Modlin Airport, which was temporarily closed before reopening after inspecting the plane and ensuring that it was free of any suspicious objects.

A SAS flight coming from Copenhagen also landed at Chopin Airport on time, and the authorities confirmed that no suspicious objects were found on board.

In Bulgaria, two planes heading to Sofia received similar threats, one belonging to “Wizz Air” coming from Bergamo, Italy, with 176 passengers on board, and the other belonging to “Ryan Air” coming from Dublin, with 185 passengers on board. The two planes landed safely, while inspections did not result in finding any explosive devices.

A Ryanair flight heading from Manchester to Murcia, Spain, was also subjected to a similar threat, but it landed without incident, before emergency measures were lifted following the end of the inspection.

It was reported that the Italian Air Force escorted one of the planes heading to Rome as part of security measures related to the threats.

This comes a day after a similar warning targeted a Wizz Air flight that was heading from Britain's Luton Airport to Sofia, forcing it to land in Budapest accompanied by two Hungarian fighter jets. Another warning on October 18 caused an Austrian Airlines plane on a flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna to be diverted.

Inspection of a ship heading to Haifa

In a separate incident, the Greek authorities carried out a security operation in the port of Syros Island after receiving a bomb threat on board the “Crown Iris” cruise ship heading to the city of Haifa.

The ship, flying the Panama flag, was preparing to sail with 940 passengers and 597 crew members on board, when a report was received from an unknown person that there was an explosive device attached to its hull.

Members of the Coast Guard, an explosives-detection dog, and a diver participated in the inspection operations, in addition to a special unit deployed at the site.

Initial inspections did not result in finding any explosive device, while Coast Guard specialists were scheduled to conduct further inspection procedures before allowing the ship to resume its voyage.