A plane from Tel Aviv makes an emergency landing in Bulgaria after a bomb threat

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A passenger plane heading from Tel Aviv to the Austrian capital, Vienna, was forced to make an emergency landing in Bulgaria on Sunday evening, after receiving a report that there was a bomb on board, which required the intervention of the Bulgarian Air Force to accompany it until it arrived at the airport.

According to what the British Sky News network reported from the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 plane changed its course and landed at Sofia Airport, after a bomb threat was reported while flying near the Romanian border.

The Ministry explained that preliminary information indicates that there are 51 passengers and 6 crew members on board the plane.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport said that the plane's crew reported a bomb threat during the flight, when the plane was near the border with Romania, which prompted it to make an emergency landing in Sofia.

She added that, in accordance with the procedures followed in such cases, a Bulgarian Air Force fighter took off and accompanied the civilian plane until it landed safely at the airport.

According to data from the Flight Radar 24 flight tracking website, the plane belongs to Austrian Airlines and bears flight number “OS82”.

Website data showed that the plane was diverted to Sofia, where it landed at 21:25 GMT.

The Bulgarian authorities confirmed the formation of an operations room that includes the competent authorities to deal with the incident, and the initiation of the necessary security inspection procedures to verify the nature of the threat.

The passengers were also removed from the plane after landing, in preparation for completing the inspections.

The authorities have not yet announced the discovery of any explosive materials, nor have they revealed the source of the threat or the party behind it. Also, there were no reports of injuries among passengers or crew members in the initial information.

The competent authorities in Bulgaria continue to examine the plane and verify the circumstances of the report, while the date for the resumption of the flight to its original destination in Vienna has not yet been announced.