Paris: Several airliners were forced to make unplanned and emergency landings across Europe on Thursday after bomb threats.
The incidents occurred days after similar warnings jumbled European airports and affected a cruise ship, where no explosives were found during the investigation, as per India Today’s report.
Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome affected
Finnair personnel said that Flight 1761 from Helsinki to Rome received a bomb threat, but no explosive was found during examination on the plane after it landed normally in the Italian capital, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported.
Ryanair flights affected
Ryanair said its three flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, also made unplanned landings because of bomb threats on board. Two of the flights, one from Copenhagen, Denmark, and the other from Madrid, landed safely at Sofia's Vasil Levski Airport, airport officials told AP.
Plovdiv Airport CEO Krassimir Peshev said that the third flight, which was from London's Stansted Airport to Sofia, was diverted too. It eventually landed safely at the airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.
Flight from Ireland to Italy makes emergency landing in France
In another incident, as reported by Euronews, French authorities confirmed that an airliner travelling from Dublin to Rome was rerouted to France, where it was escorted by military aircraft after a suspected bomb threat. France's air force stated that it had dispatched planes "as soon as the threat was reported."
A statement from French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office confirmed that "the situation is being monitored."
Prime Minister Lecornu later updated that "the aircraft has landed safely at Évreux. The 151 passengers and 6 crew members have been brought to safety, and bomb disposal teams are on-site."
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 publicly posted regarding the diversion, writing in a post on X, "Aer Lingus flight #EI402 (Dublin - Rome) is diverting to Evreux Fauville Air Base, with squawk 7700."
Threats follow cyberattacks in Europe
According to Euronews, the latest incidents are believed to have taken place between Sunday night (local time) and Monday morning (local time), with cybercriminals exploiting vulnerabilities in supermarket refrigeration systems.
The incidents have raised concerns over vulnerabilities in remotely controlled refrigeration and other operational technology systems. Advances in technology have enabled equipment such as refrigerators and heating systems, which were previously operated manually, to be controlled and monitored remotely.
(With agency inputs from AP via PTI and ANI)
