Rome-bound plane diverted to French airbase as 20 European flights hit by bomb hoaxes

An airliner heading from Dublin to Rome was rerouted to France on Thursday after a bomb threat, the French government said.

The flight was diverted to a French base in Évreux in Normandy where it landed safely, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office said.

All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe and military bomb disposal teams were examining the plane, it added. 

According ‌to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, an ​Aer Lingus aircraft turned near Paris after declaring an ​in-flight emergency.

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The incident came as about 20 flights were hit by a third day of hoax bomb alerts across Europe, authorities and airlines said.

The EU on Thursday said it was not yet clear whether the spate of hoax bomb alerts targeting European flights were connected, and that it was following events closely with national authorities.

Threats against flights sent to airports in Rome and Sofia, seen by AFP, contained misogynistic messages and claimed to be from "fighters of the Male State". 

An email containing the threat to Rome-bound planes and reviewed by the AP was sent on behalf of a group that describes itself as anti-feminist, according to a copy provided by an airport official.

"Any threats against civilians are unacceptable," EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas posted on X, adding that it was "too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked."

Earlier this week, around 10 European flights were targeted by bomb threats, forcing the brief closure of a Warsaw airport and the scrambling of air force planes in Rome, according to authorities.

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Read moreBomb threats against European airlines force Warsaw airport closure, affect several flights

 

Planes forced to land in Belgium, Bulgaria

Belgian ⁠media on Thursday reported that an airliner forced to land at Brussels' Zaventem airport belonged to the Polish airline LOT.

Meanwhile Bulgarian officials reported three aircraft making emergency ‌landings due to bomb threats.

Airplanes flying from Copenhagen and Madrid landed in Sofia, the ​interior minister said, according to broadcaster bTV.

A third aircraft, from London, landed in Plovdiv, local media said.

Czech police said they deployed at Prague’s Vaclav Havel Airport to prepare for the landing of four planes after receiving a threat of explosive devices on board. Police said that "all necessary security measures have been activated”.

A ​Finnair plane from Helsinki was safely escorted to ‌its scheduled landing in Rome by the Italian air force, a source close to the matter said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly. 

An emailed bomb threat had been received, and security clearance procedures by police bomb disposal experts were completed, with no explosives found, the official said. 

Also on Thursday, ANSA ​news agency ​reported that two ​planes ​affected by bomb alerts, an ‌Aegean ⁠Airlines ‌flight from Thessaloniki, and ⁠a Ryanair ​flight from ‌Porto, had landed ‌safely ​at their destination at Milan's Malpensa ​airport. ​

On Tuesday, seven flights and a cruise ​ship in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday, causing disruption at airports although no devices ⁠were discovered.

The flights included Polish airline LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. The hoax threats came a day after a plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary following a similar bomb threat while in the air. No one was injured.

While no country has attributed blame for the threats, they come at a time ​when European officials have been blaming both Russia and Iran for what they describe as "hybrid attacks" and acts of sabotage. Moscow and Tehran both deny any such campaign.

This week, unidentified hackers ⁠shut down fridges in supermarkets in several European countries. Some experts said hoax bomb ⁠threats could ​be part of a similar pattern of low-cost, deniable disruption efforts.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)