Bomb threat forces plane reported to be from Israel to land in Bulgaria
Bulgarian reports initially named Israel as the flight's origin, later switching to Italy
Sofia: Bulgarian counter-terrorism officers searched a passenger aircraft at Sofia Airport on Tuesday after an emailed bomb threat, the latest in a series of security alerts involving flights in Europe.
Lyubomir Nikolov, acting Secretary-General of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry, said specialist officers had been deployed to inspect the aircraft for possible explosives.
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Bulgarian National Radio initially identified the plane as arriving from Israel but subsequently reported that it had flown from Bergamo, Italy. Several other Bulgarian outlets also identified Bergamo as its origin.
The aircraft landed around midday and underwent security inspections involving counter-terrorism officers and border police.
A passenger told Bulgarian news website Vesti.bg that the captain had warned those on board about the security checks approximately 30 minutes before landing.
Passengers were instructed to leave the aircraft individually and leave their luggage behind while officers conducted searches with trained dogs, according to the report.
They were later allowed to collect their belongings and were transported to the airport terminal.
Nikolov explained that authorities had received several threatening emails containing claims that explosive devices had been planted, with airlines increasingly becoming targets.
Investigators were still working to identify the sender of a similar threat received on Monday. Previous investigations had traced threatening emails to internet addresses registered in other European countries.
Security measures at Bulgarian airports have been strengthened, although authorities had no information indicating specific terrorist intentions or actions, according to Nikolov.
The incident followed a bomb scare on Monday involving a Wizz Air flight travelling from London Luton to Sofia.
The aircraft was diverted to Budapest, where it landed safely after being escorted by a Hungarian Gripen fighter jet.
Wizz Air subsequently confirmed that security checks had found nothing suspicious, and the aircraft continued its journey to Bulgaria.
On October 18, an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna was also diverted to Sofia following a bomb threat.
Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jets escorted the aircraft to safety. Security checks found no explosives, allowing the flight to continue to Vienna.
