Plane made an emergency landing in Bulgaria due to a bomb threat

Due to a bomb threat, an Austrian Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Bulgaria on its way from Tel Aviv, Israel, to the Austrian capital Vienna. The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport announced that the crew had decided to land in the capital Sofia. The passengers were brought to safety after landing.

There were 51 passengers and six crew members on board, Austrian Airlines told the AFP news agency. After the safe landing, a search of the plane was initiated. As soon as this is completed, passengers will be rebooked onto alternative flights as quickly as possible, the airline said.

The background to the incident is still unclear. According to the Ministry of Transport, a crisis team has been set up.

Apparently a distress signal was given

According to Flightradar24, the plane entered Romanian airspace yesterday evening before turning south and flying back towards Bulgaria, before landing in Sofia. According to the flight data platform ADS-B Exchange, the aircraft issued a distress signal at the same time. According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport, the country's air force sent a fighter jet to accompany the airliner.

The unscheduled landing joins a series of similar threats against aircraft linked to Israel. The previous week, according to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, two flights of the US airline Delta were affected by bomb threats that turned out to be false alarms.